Major firms linked to accused money launder Robert Agius

By Peter Gosnell
June 17, 2008 12:00am

SOME of Australia's biggest companies have unwittingly enriched the man accused of running a $100 million money laundering scheme.

Telstra, Optus, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank are among a list of high-profile firms counted as clients of Pyrmont-based security and investigative software outfit Nuix Pty Ltd.

As revealed exclusively in The Daily Telegraph yesterday, company documents show that alleged money launderer Robert Francis Agius is the sole director of Ferodale Limited, a New Zealand-registered company which owns 243,600 shares in Nuix.

Ferodale is owned by New Zealand businessman Anthony Bowden, currently under investigation by New Zealand's Companies Office and Securities Commission following the $80 million collapse of Five Star Consumer Finance group in New Zealand late last year.

In a statement yesterday, Nuix said it stood by its position as a reputable leader in the provision of software for forensic email discovery.

However Nuix's directors, who include former Macquarie Bank adviser and LookSmart director Anthony Castagna, refused to say whether Nuix received any funds from Ferodale, Agius or Bowden, in exchange for the shares.

"Nuix Pty Ltd acknowledges that while Ferodale Limited is one of a number of shareholders of Nuix, Ferodale's associated entities and directors have no management or other involvement with Nuix," Nuix chief executive Eddie Sheehy said.

"The investment by Ferodale Limited is legal and was made and accepted in good faith."

Any such funds could potentially be subject to legal processes under proceeds of crime legislation brought by investigators from Project Wickenby, the multi-agency probe into tax evasion which is alleging Agius to be the mastermind of Australia's biggest money laundering scheme.

Spearheaded by the Australian Federal Police and codenamed Operation Starlifter, the investigation is examining whether up to 400 Australians are evading tax by shifting it through offshore tax structures in Vanuatu and New Zealand set up by Agius.

Source: The Daily Telegraph