News and Media Releases

Japan based shipping company, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha Ltd (NYK), was convicted and fined $25 million today in the Federal Court of Australia. It was the first modern criminal prosecution of cartel conduct in Australia.  The cartel involved collusion in fixing the freight rates and market shares for the international shipping of motor vehicles to Australia.

On 30 June 2016 Mr Besim appeared before the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne where he pleaded guilty to doing acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.  It was alleged that Mr Besim planned to kill a police officer during

On 5 September 2016, MHK a juvenile at the time of the offence, appeared before the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne where he pleaded guilty to a charge of doing an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.  At the time of his arrest, MHK was in the process of constructing as many as seven pipe bombs and at least one pressure cooker bomb.  He was following precise and

On 26 May 2017, 29-year-old Melissa Jade Higgins was sentenced by the New South Wales District Court to 7 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 4 years for fraudulently claiming $3,646,269.72 in child care benefits, forging documents and dealing with the proceeds of crime. 

It the largest single case of proven childcare fraud in Australia’s history.

The Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is warning members of the community to beware of scam callers claiming to be from the CDPP.

Concerned members of the community have reported scam callers are threatening legal action in relation to tax fraud as a means of coaxing them into handing over personal details or money.

On 17 March 2017, Khoder El Ali was sentenced by the District Court of NSW in Sydney to just over 17 years’ imprisonment for state and federal firearms offences. 

A 41 year old man, Kritsakul Thavapitak was sentenced in the New South Wales District Court to two years imprisonment following his part in a refund fraud syndicate that used identity crime to impersonate tax payers and lodge fraudulent refund claims. The matter was investigated by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) culminating in money laundering charges.

Mr Hamdi Alqudsi was today sentenced to eight years imprisonment with a non-parole period of six years for assisting seven men in their efforts to travel to Syria to in order to join the armed conflict taking place there.

Former banker, 30-year-old Oliver Curtis was today sentenced to two years imprisonment after being found guilty by a Supreme Court jury earlier this month of conspiring to commit insider trading with his former best friend, John Hartman.

Two men have been convicted of serious tax offences following successful investigations under the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT).

Members of an international drug syndicate were yesterday sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court to lengthy prison sentences for conspiring with each other to import and traffic a commercial quantity of a bordered controlled drug—cocaine.

Iranian national, 39-year-old Mahmood Rajabizadeh was today sentenced to a total effective sentence of 9 years and 6 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 7 years for possessing a marketable quantity of illicit drugs—heroin and methamphetamine. Rajabizadeh was found guilty to three drug-related offences after a five-day trial between 5 – 9 October 2015.

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