A Melbourne man has been sentenced today (11 February, 2025) for creating false accounts to disguise payments made to Malaysian public officials and their associates to facilitate the purchase of his property developments in 2013.
The man, 72, pleaded guilty on 29 October, 2024, to one count of false accounting, and was sentenced to 21 months' suspended imprisonment by the County Court of Victoria.
The AFP commenced an investigation in February, 2015, into the man, his associated companies and a number of Melbourne property developments.
The man acquired three properties around a university campus in Caulfield East and developed them into student hostels through his associated companies.
When the development was completed in 2013, the student hostel was sold to a Malaysian government-owned entity for $22,600,000. The purchase price of the property was inflated from $17,850,000.
During the investigation, the AFP discovered that $4.75 million was paid to entities in Malaysia either linked to Malaysian public officials or to agents acting on their behalf, in return for the officials' arranging for the Malaysian government-owned entity to purchase the property.
Of those payments, $3.4 million was disguised pursuant to false invoices.
The AFP charged the man in July, 2020.
He pleaded guilty to one count of dishonestly, and with a view to gain for another, falsifying a document made or required for an accounting purpose, by concurring in the making in the document of an entry which was false in a material particular, contrary to section 83(1)(a) of the Crimes Act (Vic).
The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) obtained restraining orders over two real estate properties in Victoria in August, 2020, each owned by the offender's wife and a company in which she is a sole director.
Bank accounts held by the man's wife and associated companies were also restrained. The total value of all restrained property was about $1.6 million.
AFP Acting Commander Bernard Geason said the complex investigation reflected the AFP's commitment to take serious action against transnational financial crime.
"False accounting is not always immediately apparent. Proving that false accounting records were used to hide the true nature of transnational transactions requires persistence and a meticulous approach to investigations and international cooperation," a/Cmdr Geason said.
"Significant work was undertaken by AFP officers during this complex investigation and by the Commonwealth prosecutors supporting the proceedings.
"Serious financial crime, including grand corruption, is not a victimless crime, and in this case, the true victims were the Malaysian taxpayers. The AFP will continue to prosecute criminals who obtain business advantages unlawfully.
"The AFP wishes to thank the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for its cooperation in this matter."
The AFP is a founding member of the Bribery Prevention Network which provides a free online portal of reliable resources, curated by Australia's leading anti-bribery experts, to support Australian business to manage bribery and corruption risks in domestic and international markets.
