One of the most successful publicly listed gambling giants on a global scale – Tabcorp has been hit with a record $45-million fine by the Australian Federal Court. The enormous fine, which is considered as the largest civil penalty in the corporate history of Australia, has been imposed on the company for breaching some laws related to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing.
The Sydney-based company would also be made to pay for the costs, which takes the overall amount that is to be paid by Tabcorp to over the breathtaking $90 million, making the financial blow even larger for the operator.
According to the Federal Court findings, Tabcorp failed to inform regulatory authorities for reports of suspicious behaviour on 108 different occasions over a period of more than half a decade. What is more, the company itself confessed that the suspicions were associated with illegal activities, including credit card fraud as well as money-laundering, both of which were not officially reported to the AUSTRAC, which stands for Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
Back in July 2015, the regulator AUSTRAC filed papers in the country’s Federal Court against Tabcorp, accusing three of its group companies in systemic, extensive and significant non-compliance with the country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing legislation.
After almost two years, today, the Federal Court gave its approval to a settlement reached between AUSTRAC and Tabcorp, after the company was found guilty in breaching the Australian Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act on the above-mentioned 108 occasions over more than five years.
As the company itself revealed in a special press release, the financial penalty would be recognised as an expense in the gambling giant’s full-year financial report for the year ending on June 30th, 2017. The expense is to be referred to as a significant item.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company – David Attenborough – said in a special statement that it was a good thing that all the proceeding had been concluded. As Mr. Attenborough explained, Tabcorp would continue to work in collaboration and cooperation with the local regulator AUSTRAC.
The company’s boss also emphasised on the fact that over the last three years, the company had made a number of large investments in boosting its AML/CTF compliance, and it would keep its focus on regulatory compliance across all the divisions currently available.
- Author
Olivia Cole
