HE’S the Australian Elliott Ness of international tax fraud investigations but now is himself the subject of a probe.

Australian Taxation Office Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston has been drawn into a wideranging investigation of an alleged $165 million tax rort which Australian Federal Police say involved his son Adam and at least eight others.

The AFP does not believe Michael Cranston knew about his son’s alleged activities.

A spokeswoman said Mr Cranston’s son asked him to access some information, and that “we don’t believe that at this point that he had any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy and the defrauding”.

Cranston Snr has been ordered to appear in Sydney’s Central Local Court on June 13, for alleged abuse of a public office.

Previously, Michael Cranston was better known as the thorough and diligent spearhead of inquiries into dubious international tax schemes which became household names even for those outside the sector — Credit Suisse Group AG, Panama Papers.

He had built up a solid reputation over 35 years of public service.

He led an Australian team which looked at some 1000 bank accounts linked to 347 individuals as part of the Credit Suisse matter, in conjunction with officials from Germany, France, Holland and Britain, after a Dutch whistle blower dropped 55,000 tax records.

“We visited the Netherlands and they organised this group of five countries to unpack the data and used all the tools available to law enforcement and the tax offices to see how far we could get behind it, because these data sets are not easy,” Mr. Cranston told the Wall Street Journal’s Australian correspondent Rob Taylor in April.

There also was examination of the telephone records of bank customer relationship staff visiting Australia to meet with wealthy clients. This was suspected of being linked to money laundering, and a stash including jewellery, art work and a gold bar.

“Our understanding is that Australia has been a smaller part than probably what happened in other countries, but there is a number of these relationship managers — a small number — who move around the countries and link up with wealthy Australians, to show what they can do,” he told the WSJ in April.

“We are using all the tools we have got available to work out who gets visited, what phone account numbers are being used.”

His objective was to nab the masterminds of the schemes, rather than the incidental players, and used an amnesty to encourage confessions from minor participants.

“We do like to focus more on the facilitators, so if there was an accountant or a law firm which facilitated this into relationship managers, they will be more who we prioritise for criminal investigations,” he said.

AFP officers on Thursday said they “scale of the alleged fraud is unprecedented”. AFP deputy commissioner Leanne Close told reporters in Sydney the “response from our members is a direct response to the level of offending that we have identified during this operation”.

The nine accused were arrested following an eight-month long investigation codenamed Operation Elbrus.

Adam Cranston is charged with conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth and was arrested at Bondi during 27 raids on homes and businesses across Sydney on Wednesday.

He appeared via video link at Central Local Court on Thursday and was released on bail, as were two others also allegedly involved in the criminal syndicate.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Adam Cranston lived a luxurious lifestyle that included boats, an orange and blue Ford GT and prime real estate.

Commissioner Close said she it appeared Adam had asked his father for access to some information.

“We don’t believe at this point that he had any knowledge of the actual conspiracy and the defrauding,” she said.

— with Andrew Koubaridis