As a part of Project Wickenby, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) says it charged a second man with conspiring to dishonestly cause a loss to the ATO and conspiring to deal in the proceeds of crime to the value of $63m as a part of an ongoing investigation.
The AFP says the arrest follows its 24 April 2012 operation where search warrants were executed at private and commercial premises across NSW and Qld. Further, the AFP says it will be alleged in court that the accused, a 47 year old man, fraudulently over-inflated the purchase price of intellectual property then donated the tax losses associated with the deprecation to a complex unit trust structure. The AFP says it will also be alleged that the funds were then laundered through an account in the UK and numerous accounts in Hong Kong before being transferred back to Australia.
Source: Joint AFP/ATO media release, 3 May 2012
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