September 14, 2016
The audacious scheme to “wash” the cash deposits and transfer the money overseas was uncovered during a joint investigation by WA detectives and Australian Federal Police. Operation Churchill discovered that 12 Australian-registered companies, whose directors were Hong Kong nationals on working visas, were fronts for the money laundering operation.
People in Perth and Sydney were recruited by the syndicate and paid between $200 and $300 a day as they made deposits of up to $40,000 at a time in suburban bank branches between March and December last year.