Greg O’Mahoney and Karen Petch appeared for the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police in a significant case concerning the forfeiture of assets and imposition of pecuniary penalties under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002): The Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Omar [2021] NSWSC 366.
In addition to ordering that all restrained property be forfeited to the Commonwealth, the Supreme Court of NSW ordered each of Mr Mohammad Omar and Mr Ibrahim Omar to pay pecuniary penalties to the Commonwealth in the sum of $13,003,011.30 and $12,139,179.65 respectively. Those penalties are the largest to have been imposed under the pecuniary penalty order regime provided for in the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The case concerned a substantial body of fraudulent claims under the Commonwealth government’s Child Care Benefits scheme.
The Supreme Court found that the defendants were responsible for the “brazen” and “well organised” scheme, through which they deceived the Commonwealth by using corporate entities and a network of individuals to falsely claim for the provision of childcare services.
The Court found that, by reason of those fraudulent claims, each Messrs Omar derived a benefit of $15,000,000, which was to be repaid to the Commonwealth through forfeiture of assets under their control and imposition of pecuniary penalties.
A link to the case can be found here:
