The Australian Taxation Office’s $165m tax fraud investigation could jeopardise its other investigations, including into the Panama Papers, Labor has warned as police announced a 10th arrest in the case.

Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh said it was “deeply troubling” that a senior ATO official faced two charges, and he called on ATO commissioner Chris Jordan to ensure the integrity of his organisation’s current investigations.

Michael Cranston, ATO deputy commissioner, faces two charges of abusing his position as a public official by allegedly seeking information about the ATO’s investigation into an alleged $165m tax fraud which involved his son and daughter, Adam and Lauren.

His 30-year-old son, Adam, and daughter, Lauren, 24, are among a group of nine people charged on Wednesday over the scam uncovered by Australian federal police during an eight-month investigation.

On Thursday 34-year-old Sydney man was arrested on his return from overseas and charged in relation to the alleged conspiracy.

Simon Paul Anquetil, from Lavender Bay, is charged with conspiracy to defraud the commonwealth and was due to face Sydney’s central local court on Friday.

“The scale of this allege fraud is unprecedented,” AFP deputy commissioner Leanne Close told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.

The alleged conspiracy saw a company set up in Sydney to provide payroll services to legitimate companies, with funds received from the companies used to pay the net wages of their employees with the tax to be sent to the ATO.

It is alleged that Adam Cranston and his co-conspirators paid the after-tax wages to the companies’ employees but withheld millions of dollars in tax from the ATO. They allegedly did so by funnelling the funds through a number of second-tier companies which only paid a fraction of the tax to the ATO, with the rest distributed to Cranston and his syndicate.

The alleged theft dates back to June 2016 and is estimated at $165m but could be much more.

Michael Cranston has been ordered to appear in Sydney’s central local court on 13 June for alleged abuse of a public office, but the AFP believes he may not have had any knowledge of the conspiracy involving his son and daughter.



Last year, Cranston spearheaded the ATO’s response to the massive leak of tax documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca.

He established a working group within the ATO to review more than 800 Australian names identified in the documents, and warned taxpayers it was getting increasingly difficult to hide assets and income overseas.

“I think the environment’s changed and it becomes more difficult given all the new initiatives that are in place, the exchange of information globally, and also the way we work domestically with other law enforcement,” he told the ABC.

Leigh said Labor was very concerned that the ATO’s Panama Papers investigation would be affected by this week’s scandal.

“I don’t want to go into any of the specifics of the individual who’s now been charged but Labor is concerned that those ongoing investigations continue to take place,” he told the ABC on Friday.

“We do believe that this reinforces the need for the Senate investigation into a national integrity commission, which we’ve been calling for for quite some time now.

He said ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan must ensure his organisation’s investigations were unaffected.

“It’s reassuring that their systems automatically flagged this up, but deeply troubling that charges are being laid against somebody of this seniority,” Leigh said.

Malcolm Turnbull has said the case was “very much to be regretted” and the government took a “zero tolerance” approach.

“Nobody should imagine they can escape our law enforcement agencies no matter how high they may be in a government department,” he said in Brisbane when congratulating police.

Labor’s Chris Bowen has said while the case was “disturbing” justice should be allowed to proceed “without political commentary”.

Police believe Adam Cranston asked his father to access “some information”.

Acting taxation commissioner Andrew Mills said 58-year-old Cranston had had an “illustrious career” until Thursday.

“It is of concern that a long-standing officer has been alleged to have been involved in this,” he said.

An internal investigation has been launched into four ATO employees who’ve been suspended without pay.

Mills reassured taxpayers the office’s systems hadn’t been compromised.

Syndicate members interacted socially and had business obligations together.

Their proceeds funded lavish lifestyles, with police seizing 25 cars – luxury, vintage and racing vehicles – 18 residential properties, 12 motorbikes, in excess of 100 bank accounts and share-trading accounts and two aircraft.

Firearms, jewellery, artwork, vintage wines and at least $1m located in a safety deposit box were also confiscated.

Adam Cranston, who was arrested in Bondi amid 27 raids on homes and businesses across Sydney on Wednesday, was released on bail on a surety of $300,000 after an appearance via video link in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Thursday.

He was also required to surrender his passport.

The 30-year-old was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth while his sister Lauren is due to face court on June 13 charged with the same offence plus another of dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The seven others arrested on Wednesday include Dev Menon, Devyn Michelle Hammond, Daniel Rostankovski, Jason Cornell Onley, Christopher James Guillan, Aaron Leo Paul and Daniel Simon Hausman.

The AFP says it will take time to see where the conspiracy ends and whether further charges should be laid.