Latest News

The 2021-22 CDPP Annual Report was tabled in Parliament on Friday 28 October 20

The CDPP recently received an overall satisfaction score of 86 per cent from its biennial 2022 Partner Agency Survey.

The CDPP's 2022-26 Corporate Plan is now available.

The Attorney-General of New South Wales today announced the appointment of Ms Sarah McNaughton SC as a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW. 

The CDPP’s Library and Research Services team has won the 2022 Legal Information Service of the Year award announced at the Australian Law Librarians’ Association (ALLA) conference in Hobart on Thursday 26 August.

On 7 July 2022 the Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Honourable Mark Dreyfus QC MP, announced he had declined to proceed further in the prosecution of Mr Bernard Collaery for five offences relating to the alleged unlawful communication of ASIS information contrary to the Intelligence Services

On 11 February 2022, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Ms Sarah McNaughton SC announced her decision to decline to proceed further in the criminal prosecutions of Citigroup Global Markets Australia Pty Limited, Deutsche Bank AG and four senior banking executives for cartel offences

The CDPP 2020-21 Annual Report was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday 20 October 2021. 

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Sarah McNaughton SC, has been extended in the role for a further two years.

The CDPP has launched a new Partner Agency Portal, giving investigators from partner agencies easy and timely access to information.
The last 12 months has tested businesses, including the CDPP, to become more agile to effectively deliver services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) is an independent prosecution service established by Parliament under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983 (Cth) to prosecute alleged offences against Commonwealth law.

The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is warning members of the community to beware of scammers claiming to be from the CDPP.
The CDPP’s Partner Agencies will soon have access to a refreshed, scalable and dynamic, secure website to support their investigative work.

This is a joint media release between the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions

A 24-year-old Sydney man has been jailed for nine years and four months after he posed as a teen to exploit and extort explicit images from children online.

Note: This is a joint media release between the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions

A serial paedophile who abused children in Australia and Southeast Asia has today been sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 28 years.

On 7 November 2019, Richard Ham (21) and Soo Lee (24) were sentenced in the District Court of New South Wales after pleading guilty to attempting to possess a commercial quantity of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), more commonly known as ‘ecstasy’.

Today, Perth woman Alesha Stopforth (30) was sentenced in the District Court of Western Australia to 3 years imprisonment, to be released after serving 16 months upon entering into a Recognisance Order in the amount of $10,000 and to be of good behaviour for a period of 20 months, after pleading

Suzanne Akkari (25) was today sentenced to 18 months imprisonment to be released forthwith on a recognisance of $500 and to be of good behaviour for 18 months, after pleading guilty to a charge of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring another in the arrangement of a marriage to obtain perman

Today*, Savas Avan (49) was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to 3 years imprisonment, after pleading guilty to mailing packages containing asbestos to consulates and embassies in Melbourne and Canberra.

Today, Luke Borg (36) was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria after pleading guilty to a number of child sex offences.

A man from Sydney was today sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of 34 years, with a non-parole period of 29 years, for preparing and planning a terrorist attack, threatening to kill the NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services and for an attack on an inmate in custody.

Three Victorian men were today sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria for the offence of engaging in a terrorist act.  A jury had earlier found the men guilty of this crime by setting fire to a Shia mosque in suburban Melbourne, causing $1.5 million in damage.

The Victorian County Court has today sentenced Mohamed Osman Omar (36), to four years imprisonment, after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) of more than $370,000, and attempting to obtain a further amount of more than $85,000.

Project Wickenby

The new Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, which began operating on 1 July 2015, will build on the success of Project Wickenby.

Project Wickenby commenced in February 2006, a Commonwealth cross agency taskforce was set up to combat international tax evasion, which posed a serious threat to the integrity of Australia’s tax and regulatory systems.

When it finished on 30 June 2015, it was the largest tax evasion investigation ever run in Australia’s history. It netted $2.29 billion in tax liabilities and recouped $985.67 million in outstanding revenue. A total of 46 individuals were convicted.

Project Wickenby enhanced the strategies and capabilities of Australian and international agencies to collectively detect, deter and deal with international tax avoidance and evasion.

It was also designed to improve community confidence in Australian regulatory systems by showing steps are taken to address serious non-compliance with tax laws, and to reform administrative practice, policy and legislation.

By prosecuting offences that arose from the taskforce’s investigations, we played a vital role in the project.

You can learn more about Project Wickenby on the ATO’s website.

Key legislation

Main offences

  • s.134.2 Criminal Code—dishonestly obtaining a financial benefit by deception
  • s.135.1(5) Criminal Code—dishonestly causing a loss or a risk of a loss to the Commonwealth
  • s.135.4(3) Criminal Code—conspiracy to cause a loss or a risk of a loss to the Commonwealth
  • ss.400.3–400.6 Criminal Code—money laundering offences.

Penalties

The maximum penalties for these offences are:

  • 10 years’ imprisonment for s.134.2 Criminal Code
  • 10 years’ imprisonment for s.135.1(5) Criminal Code
  • 10 years’ imprisonment for s.135.4(3) Criminal Code
  • 2–25 years’ imprisonment for ss.400.3-400.6 Criminal Code.

Partner agencies

Significant Cases

  • R v Glyn Morgan Jones; R v Anthony Joseph Hili [2010] NSW CCA 108
  • R v Anthony Joseph Hili; R v Glyn Morgan Jones [2010] HCA 45
  • Milne v R [2011] NSWCCA 24
  • R v Boughen; R v Cameron [2012] NSWCCA 17
  • R v Lynette Liles [2012] NSWSC 1249
  • R v Paul John Gregory [2011] VSCA 145
  • R v Hargraves; R v Stoten [2010] QCA 328
  • R v Tatsuo Jo [2012] QCA 356
  • R v Steven Hawkins [2013] NSWCCA 208
  • R v Zerafa [2013] NSWCCA 222
  • Isbester v R [2013] NSWCCA 230
  • R v de Figueiredo [2013] QCA303