The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has frozen more than 50 banks accounts suspected of defrauding the Government's early access to superannuation program introduced in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Key points:
- Around $200,000 has been frozen in more than 50 accounts
- It is believed criminal syndicates are behind the alleged fraud of the early access super scheme
- The Government scheme is designed to help people struggling financially during the pandemic
Based on intelligence gathered by authorities they believe criminal syndicates — including some based overseas — are behind the fraudulent activity.
A spokesperson for the AFP said criminals were also targeting the JobSeeker and JobKeeper schemes.
"About $200,000 has been restrained in those onshore bank accounts," the spokesperson said.
"The AFP has a dedicated operation targeting the fraud and is advanced in its investigation.
"The AFP under Commissioner Reece Kershaw is putting a blowtorch to serious organised crime."
It comes after Mr Kershaw confirmed to a Senate inquiry into the Government's response to COVID-19 in May that the AFP was looking into fraud allegations, which the Australian Tax Office first became aware of at the end of April.
At the time he said five search warrants have been executed and a number of accounts had been frozen as investigations continued.
The Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg would not comment specifically on the investigations but told Sky News those caught defrauding the system will be prosecuted.
Mr Frydenberg said the Government was taking the matter "very seriously".
"Organised crime is a problem for both the private and public sectors … particularly when you've got a program of this scale and size, I mean Jobkeeper is the single largest one-off government program in Australian history," he said.
"We have established a serious financial-crimes task force that brings together the Australia Federal Police, the ATO, the Department of Homes Affairs and others.
"We have also put in a number of integrity measure to ensure payments are not going to not going compromised accounts, and there are risk-based random audits."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA3LTAyL2FmcC1mcmVlemUtYWNjb3VudHMtc3luZGljYXRlcy1lYXJseS1hY2Nlc3Mtc3VwZXItY29yb25hdmlydXMvMTI0MTQ0ODLSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI0MTQ0ODI?oc=5
2020-07-01 23:46:00Z
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