A Melbourne man has had about $1.6 million in assets restrained by the AFP after allegedly paying $4.75 million in bribes to Malaysian government officials. Picture: Supplied
A Victorian man accused of bribing Malaysian officials has had about $1.6 million in assets restrained by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
The 68-year-old man is said to have paid $4.75 million in bribes to Malaysian government officials in exchange for purchasing his property developments in Melbourne.
He was charged with foreign bribery and false accounting offences in July this year. However, the AFP began its investigation in February 2015.
According to the AFP, the man acquired three properties around a university campus in Caulfield East, in Melbourne’s southeast, and developed them into student hostels through his associated companies.
Following its development in 2013, the hostel was sold to a Malaysian government-owned entity for $22,600,000. The AFP say the purchase price was inflated from $17,850,000.
As of August this year, the AFP have restrained property totalling about $1.6 million after it attained restraining orders for two real estate properties in Victoria owned by the accused’s wife and a company she is the sole director of.
Bank accounts held by the woman and her husband’s associated companies were also restrained.
In the past financial year, the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce restrained criminal assets in excess of $250 million.
AFP Financial Crime commander Paul Osborne said the organisation was determined to investigate, prosecute and confiscate the assets of those Australians who bribe foreign officials.
“The AFP will continue to work collaboratively with international law-enforcement partners to discover, disrupt, investigate and prosecute foreign bribery and to restrain and confiscate their assets,” he said.
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