Paul Hogan To Sue Australian Government

by Mary Swire, Tax-New.com, Hong Kong

07 January 2011

Australian actor, Paul Hogan, star of the popular Crocodile Dundee films, is planning to sue the Australian federal government for up to AUD15m over lost earnings as a result of being investigated for tax evasion.

Hogan, 71, to date has been the most high profile person to be investigated under the country’s Project Wickenby – the cooperative partnership between the ATO, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Six weeks ago the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) announced that it would not be pursuing any criminal charges against Hogan. It said at the time that it was the ACC's assessment that continuing with its investigation of Mr Hogan was not justified in the public interest having regard to a range of factors. It said that it was not appropriate to canvas those factors publicly beyond noting that on the material available to the ACC, including documents recently obtained as a result of overseas enquiries, the ACC had concluded that there were insufficient prospects of securing convictions to justify continuing with its investigation.

The ACC had been investigating this matter since 2005. The delay in resolving this long running investigation hinged on the international complexity of the structures put in place by those who were the subject of the investigation and a clear strategy by those being investigated to legally challenge the ACC’s attempt to establish the facts in the case.

In a statement the ACC said: “The Operation Wickenby investigation has since its inception focused on the organizers and facilitators of abusive secrecy havens and tax evasion schemes. As a result the investigation of the alleged facilitators of the tax avoidance scheme will continue. Importantly, this does not preclude other administrative action being taken in respect of those involved. The ACC has written to the solicitors representing Mr Hogan advising them of its decision”.

Hogan’s lawyers are planning to bring in film executives to testify that Hogan’s loss of income during the period of investigation has been in the range of AUD10m to AUD15m per annum. Although his film career since the success of the first two Crocodile Dundee films had waned, they will argue that he had still been in demand in the advertising world, but that this had come to a standstill as soon as the tax investigation became public.

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