News and Media Releases

• The matter of the death of Mr Andrew John Witton was referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) in June 2010. 

A 30-year-old Canberra man, Joshua Ferguson was yesterday sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, to serve 5 months in custody, for child exploitation offences.   Ferguson was sentenced in relation to offences for accessing, transmitting and possessing child pornography material.

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE
A Sydney accountant has been convicted and sentenced today for his role in advising a client on how to hide funds offshore with entities in Hong Kong and Switzerland, resulting in the avoidance of $4.5 million in tax.

Mark Pedley has been appointed as the new Commonwealth Solicitor for Public Prosecutions at Australia’s federal prosecution service—the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP).

• On 20 April 2015, police from the Melbourne Joint Counter Terrorism Team charged Mr Harun Causevic with one count of conspiring to do an act in preparation or planning for a terrorist act, contrary to sections 11.5 and s.101.6 of the Criminal Code (Cth).
• Following the service of a police brief of evidence, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) conducted an indepen

The Director of a Melbourne based Asian green grocer, Suky Lieu, was today sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years for his role as a principal offender in the trafficking of significant quantities of controlled drugs in Australia and the laundering of large sums of money.

A 70-year-old Queensland woman was today sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment for collecting her dead mother’s pension for nearly 20 years and defrauding the Australian community of $254,440. She will serve six months of the sentence before being released on a recognisance to be of good behaviour for a period of 18 months.

Members of the public are continuing to receive phone calls supposedly from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) requesting people to contact the Office in relation to a tax fraud warrant – ultimately seeking people to deposit money into a bank account, to send it overseas or attend a post office and put money on a Deposit Card.

Three Canadians who were involved in the trafficking of 650 kilograms of ephedrine hidden in vanilla powder jars have been gaoled. Forty-eight-year-old Edmond Proko, 28-year-old James Wray Kelsey and 31- year-old Catherine Marie McNaughton, were sentenced today in the Melbourne’s County Court for their separate roles in trafficking jars of chemicals capable of producing deadly drugs.

Former banker, 26-year-old Lukas Kamay and ex Australian Bureau of Statistics worker, 25-year-old Christopher Hill have both been sentenced to significant gaol terms for their roles in what is one of the biggest insider trading cases in Australian history—worth over $7million in illegal foreign exchange trades.

Thirty-six-year-old Mark Clermont and 35 year old Matheiu Horobjowsky—both Canadian citizens—were sentenced on 25 February 2015 for importing 85.5 kilograms of pure cocaine and 192.8 kilograms of methamphetamines inside a road roller.

A 71-year-old man has been sentenced to twelve years imprisonment with a requirement to serve eight years in custody for illegally smuggling 4177.1 grams of methamphetamine in his suitcase.