Australia – Finance Department Plutus Payroll scam may have entangled government agencies (The Canberra Times)

Australia’s Finance Department said three of the government’s largest employers may have been among agencies entangled in the Plutus Payroll scandal before federal police ended the payroll scam, reports The Canberra Times.

During investigations of the government’s exposure to Plutus, the Finance Department provided the Australian Federal Police a list of 35 agencies using labour hire firms that had relationships with the payroll company at the centre of the alleged fraud. The list shows the government may have been highly exposed to Plutus, which was allegedly used by a syndicate skimming money owed to the Australian Tax Office.

The Australian Tax Office was one of the agencies named on the list. Finance added that two agencies may have been directly involved with the payroll company.

The Department of Human Services and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection also used contractors from labour hire firms that had a relationship to Plutus.

Finance Department secretary Rosemary Huxtable previously told senators at the Senate estimates hearing in October that the government agencies may not have had a direct link to Plutus, but had indicated they engaged labour hire companies that may have used the payroll firm.

The Plutus Payroll scam, which alleges that Plutus was funnelling wage payments through several sub-contracted ‘second-tier’ companies, has been described as the biggest white-collar fraud case in Australian history. The fraud was estimated at AUD 165 million (USD 125.2 million).

Source: Australia – Finance Department Plutus Payroll scam may have entangled government agencies (The Canberra Times)