More than $3.6 million cash suspected to be the proceeds of crime has been forfeited to the Commonwealth after an AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) investigation.
The District Court of Western Australia has ordered $3,650,330, which was seized during an AFP investigation that resulted in the conviction of a Perth man, to be forfeited. The money seized and forfeited will be added to a special purpose fund that supports crime prevention and law enforcement-related measures.
The AFP found the cash in heat-sealed plastic bundles in the 26-year-old man's bedroom when they executed a search warrant at his Alexander Heights home in December, 2022.
The cash was seized and CACT began an investigation into how the unemployed man acquired the money.
The CACT applied to the WA District Court to have the cash restrained and forfeited, submitting that it was reasonable to suspect the money was the proceeds of crime, because it was "grossly disproportionate" to the man's declared income and identifiable financial position.
The man, who was sentenced in January, 2024 to four years' imprisonment, consented to the restraint and forfeiture orders.
AFP Criminal Assets Confiscation Acting Commander Amelia McDonald said stripping criminals of their wealth was a key operational priority of the AFP and its partners.
"The CACT's investigators, forensic accountants and litigators will ensure people justify how they accumulate their wealth and target any assets that are not linked to lawful sources," she said.
"This prevents the bankrolling of further criminal activity and makes crime less financially lucrative.
"Outcomes such as this one in Western Australia are key to disrupting and deterring serious organised crime across the country.
"It is rewarding that funds forfeited through the CACT's work are redirected to the programs that benefit the community."
The AFP-led CACT brings together the resources and expertise of the AFP, Australian Border Force, Australian Taxation Office, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC. Together these agencies trace, restrain and ultimately confiscate criminal assets.
Once forfeited to the Commonwealth, those confiscated assets are sold by the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (Official Trustee). The funds derived from the sale of confiscated assets are placed into the Confiscated Assets Account (the special purpose fund), managed by the Official Trustee on behalf of the Commonwealth.
These funds can be distributed by the Attorney-General to benefit the community through crime prevention measures, diversion programs or other law enforcement measures across Australia.
The Commonwealth's proceeds of crime laws provide extensive tools for the restraint of both proceeds and instruments of crime, as well as financial penalty and unexplained wealth orders, based on a civil standard of proof. These laws operate separately to any criminal prosecution and can also operate when there is no related criminal investigation or prosecution.
Since July 2019, CACT has restrained more than $1.1 billion dollars in criminal assets including houses, cars, fine art and luxury yachts.
