Investigation of Fraud by the National Crime Authority Operation Swordfish-- Catching the Big Fish (From Fraud Prevention and Control, P 1-9, 2000, Australian Institute of Criminology -- See NCJ-186569)

• NCJ Number: 186578
• Author(s): Marshall P. Irwin
• Date Published: January 2001
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Paper presented at the Fraud Prevention and Control Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology on August 24-25, 2000.

Annotation

This paper describes the strategy used to combat organized crime in Australia under the National Crime Authority's (NCA's) operation "Swordfish."

Abstract

The NCA has been funded to target organized fraud against the Commonwealth, including tax evasion and money laundering, along with associated or underlying criminal activity, particularly drug trafficking. The NCA's approach focuses on the profit motive of organized crime by targeting major crime figures who have also committed major fraud by not paying tax and hiding the proceeds of their criminal activity. It also enhances investigations into the underlying criminal activity from which the profits are derived. Key components of the "Swordfish" strategy include using financial investigations as a proactive tool for identifying and prosecuting those involved in the underlying criminal activity, especially drug trafficking; investigating and prosecuting tax evasion and money laundering offenses as a means of disrupting organized criminal networks and bringing sanctions against major organized crime figures; focusing on the profit motive for serious crime by raising tax assessments against those engaged in relevant criminal activity and confiscating their criminally derived assets and crime proceeds; and investigating and prosecuting tax evasion that constitutes organized criminal activity in its own right. In the latter case, penalties are assessed to recover the revenue lost to the Commonwealth. The quantitative and qualitative results of this strategy are shown to be effective through information and data presented in this paper. Ways to improve the strategy are suggested.