The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) has resolved its first unexplained wealth matter, with the Supreme Court making an unexplained wealth declaration and ordering the confiscation of cash and assets.
The Supreme Court also made a criminal benefits declaration against former Government employee, Paul Whyte arising from 530 corruption charges and a property laundering charge he is currently facing.
Following the charges for corruption crimes and illegally gaining a benefit to himself and others estimated at more than $22 million, assets were immediately restrained by a freezing order.
The criminal benefit acquired by Mr Whyte, to the exclusion of others who benefitted from the commission of his confiscation offences, is assessed as and declared to be just over $11 million.
The Commission has now been successful in obtaining a criminal benefits declaration and confiscation orders prior to Mr Whyte being criminally convicted and sentenced in a superior court.
The assets confiscated include two Mosman Park properties with a combined estimated value of $4.26 million, his interest in a Government superannuation fund of $1.4 million, his interest in his father’s deceased estate which included a Scarborough property, and other monies arising from his interest in horses.
Disrupting organised crime is one of the Commission’s primary objectives and freezing assets as part of unexplained wealth investigations is one mechanism to achieve this objective.
There are currently $13-to-15 million in assets which are subject to Supreme Court freezing orders by the Commission, relating to eight investigations under way.
