Serious Financial Crime Taskforce
Phillip Sweeney made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Federal Police
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Australian Federal Police,
The following comments appear on the website of McGrath Nicol:
"On 1 July 2015, the Federal Government established the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) under the auspice of the Australia Federal Police. The SFCT is a multi-agency initiative aimed at fighting serious and organised financial crime including money laundering, international tax evasion, fraudulent phoenix activity, trust fraud and superannuation fraud.
The SFCT had a win recently when it successfully prosecuted a financial advisor for tax fraud valued at more than $700,000. The advisor was sentenced to more than five years jail. In another success for the SFCT, a company director was sentenced to imprisonment for under-declaring income to the value of $4.5 million."
Please note that "superannuation fraud" is specifically mentioned.
Now the SFCT by September 2016 is clearly operational and would have a letterhead that would be used for investigations already under investigation by the SFCT as well as "potential" investigations.
This letterhead would would be uses by partner agencies, which are:
- Australian Federal Police (AFP)
- Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
-Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) {Formerly the Australian Crime Commission)
- Attorney's General's Department
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)
- Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP)
- Australian Border Force (ABF)
The document I seek is a copy of the letterhead document that would be used when the Australian Federal Police is engaged in Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) activities.
All information that might appear on any given document can be redacted, since I am only seeking a copy of the letterhead document that would be used for all SFCT correspondence.
Yours faithfully,
Phillip Sweeney
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UNCLASSIFIED
Good Afternoon Mr Sweeney,
Your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your email of 7 September 2016 in which you seek access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:
The document I seek is a copy of the letterhead document that would be
used when the Australian Federal Police is engaged in Serious Financial
Crime Taskforce (SFCT) activities.
Information considered irrelevant to the scope of your request
The AFP, in its management of FOI requests, excludes the following
information on the basis that is irrelevant to the scope of a request:
- Names of AFP members, other than the Senior Executive.
- Direct telephone numbers, signatures and mobile telephone numbers
of AFP members.
- Duplicate documents, including duplicate emails. The AFP will only
provide emails where they form a final email chain and the
authors/recipients are contained within the final email.
- Information that is publicly available, for example, newspaper
articles, online publications including information available on the AFP
Information Publication Scheme and the AFP disclosure log.
If you object to the AFP excluding any of the above information, please
advise this office within seven days of receipt of this letter.
Your request was received by this agency on 7 September 2016 and the 30
day statutory period for processing your request commenced from that date.
You will be notified of any charges in accordance with the Freedom of
Information (Fees and Charges) Regulations, should they apply, in relation
to your request as soon as practicable.
Disclosure Log
Please be advised that in accordance with section 11C of the Act, an
agency is required to publish information on their website following the
notification of a decision in respect of a freedom of information
request.
The requirement to publish information released under FOI reinforces the
objectives of the FOI Act to promote a pro-disclosure culture across
government and to increase recognition that information held by government
is a national resource. Exceptions to the requirement to publish
information would apply to personal information and information concerning
the business affairs of a person if it was considered ‘unreasonable’ to do
so. Details of the decision may be published in a Disclosure Log which
can be found at
[1]https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat....
Publication will be made in accordance with timeframes stipulated in
section 11C of the Act.
If, however, after noting the above, you wish to raise any concerns about
the publication of information concerning your request prior to the
notification of a decision, please advise this office in writing before 4
October 2016. If you do not raise any concerns prior to the date of the
decision, the AFP will publish the information as notified to you in the
decision.
My apologies for the delay in sending this notification to you, however
this was logged with one of your other FOI requests. Please be assured,
that the AFP FOI team is working to have a response prepared for your
within legislative timelines.
Yours sincerely
AFP22486
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
[2]cid:image003.jpg@01D21B38.13BFA150
Tel +61(0) 2 6131 6131
[3]www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
References
Visible links
1. https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat...
3. http://www.afp.gov.au/
Dear FOI,
This FOI request is now overdue. Might I ask you to expedite a reply.
Yours sincerely,
Phillip Sweeney
Thank you for your email.
Please note that this is an automated response to confirm that your email was sent to the Australian Federal Police Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox.
This FOI inbox is monitored between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and the period from 27-31 December.
If you wish to lodge a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), please ensure that your request is in writing, states that it is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act and provides sufficient detail describing the documents you wish to access.
If you are requesting personal information about yourself then please ensure you enclose a copy of your photographic identification.
Further details on how to make a valid FOI request can be found on the Australian Federal Police’s website at: http://www.afp.gov.au/about-the-afp/foi-...
The Australian Federal Police will acknowledge your request in accordance with the legislative requirements of the Act.
The FOI Team can be contacted on 02 6131 6131
UNCLASSIFIED
Good Morning Mr Sweeney,
Your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your email of 7 September 2016 in which you seek access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:
The document I seek is a copy of the letterhead document that would be
used when the Australian Federal Police is engaged in Serious Financial
Crime Taskforce (SFCT) activities.
Please find attached a copy of the AFP decision in response to this
request.
My apologies for the delay in getting this response to you.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the AFP
FOI Team.
Kind Regards,
AFP22486
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
CHIEF COUNSEL PORTFOLIO
Tel +61(0) 2 6131 6131
[1]www.afp.gov.au
UNCLASSIFIED
References
Visible links
1. http://www.afp.gov.au/