OMEN
07-25-2006, 10:51 AM
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TAX TROUBLE: Paul Hogan as Mick Dundee, the hero of the Crocodile Dundee films, from which funds were placed in offshore schemes on the advice of tax experts
SYDNEY: Australia's most profitable comedy duo, Paul Hogan and John Cornell, are suspected of funnelling millions of dollars of royalties from their Crocodile Dundee films into tax havens.
Hogan, Cornell and some family members are thought to have used credit or debit cards to draw down income in Australia from hidden tax haven trusts - without appropriate declarations on their Australian tax returns.
Hogan and Cornell, the star and producer of the Dundee phenomenon, have recently moved to sell substantial Byron Bay land holdings. Hogan is understood to have shifted his family to the United States.
The Tax Office has linked the pair's tax haven dealings with Philip Egglishaw, an adviser and principal of a Swiss firm of tax haven specialists, Strachans.
A representative for Hogan and Cornell has previously told the Herald that any failure to meet Australian tax obligations was the result of ignorance rather than dishonesty. If so, the pair are likely to be hit with substantial tax debts and penalties rather than criminal charges. The representative said the money was placed in offshore schemes on the advice of tax experts in Los Angeles and elsewhere - and largely when Australia's international tax laws were not as onerous as they are today.
Last week, three of Egglishaw's other Australian clients, Gold Coast businessmen Daniel Stoten, Adam Hargraves and Glenn Hargraves, appeared in court on the Gold Coast charged with conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth prosecutor, Simon Allen, told the court they were involved in "a very sophisticated tax fraud" and "there were very significant and large sums of money which were sent overseas and ultimately deposited into Swiss trust accounts operated by the defendants".
The court heard that money was then brought back into the country by using debit cards issued by a Swiss bank. Each of the three men faces a maximum of 10 years' jail.
A portion of Hogan and Cornell's film royalties is thought to have initially been sent to Chile and the Netherlands Antilles, in the Caribbean.
Twentieth Century Fox, which licensed rights to the Dundee films outside the US, and which is owned by News Corp, is thought to have facilitated similar arrangements with a number of its Hollywood stars. Hogan and Cornell's earnings were later shifted to trusts administered in other tax havens by Egglishaw, a chartered accountant from Jersey in the Channel Islands, now living in Geneva.
A lawyer who was acting for Hogan and Cornell, David Rydon, said yesterday he had not received instructions to respond to the Herald's inquiries and could not say where Hogan was. Both Cornell and Hogan are in the process of selling substantial real estate in and around Byron Bay.
In November, the pair sold 460 metres of beach frontage at Broken Head for $A5 million. In May, Hogan sold a $A1.95 million beach house, while Cedar Springs, the mansion at Possum Creek he has been trying to sell for some years, remains on the market for an estimated $A10 million.
Hogan's real estate agent, Graham Dunn, said Hogan and his family were no longer living at Cedar Springs because they were "OS".
Cornell and his wife, Delvene Delaney, have recently entered negotiations to sell their Byron Bay Beach Hotel, but are anxious to avoid the impression of a fire sale. Cornell recently rejected a $65 million offer from the Hedley Group, a Queensland hotel and construction company, through Jones Lang LaSalle, according to a real estate agent involved in the negotiations.
The agent said Cornell had approached some potential buyers and been contacted by others. "The owners are considering their options," he said.
He called back later to say he had "very recently" received a fax from Cornell stating the property was not "formally" on the market.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/smh170.gif
TAX TROUBLE: Paul Hogan as Mick Dundee, the hero of the Crocodile Dundee films, from which funds were placed in offshore schemes on the advice of tax experts
SYDNEY: Australia's most profitable comedy duo, Paul Hogan and John Cornell, are suspected of funnelling millions of dollars of royalties from their Crocodile Dundee films into tax havens.
Hogan, Cornell and some family members are thought to have used credit or debit cards to draw down income in Australia from hidden tax haven trusts - without appropriate declarations on their Australian tax returns.
Hogan and Cornell, the star and producer of the Dundee phenomenon, have recently moved to sell substantial Byron Bay land holdings. Hogan is understood to have shifted his family to the United States.
The Tax Office has linked the pair's tax haven dealings with Philip Egglishaw, an adviser and principal of a Swiss firm of tax haven specialists, Strachans.
A representative for Hogan and Cornell has previously told the Herald that any failure to meet Australian tax obligations was the result of ignorance rather than dishonesty. If so, the pair are likely to be hit with substantial tax debts and penalties rather than criminal charges. The representative said the money was placed in offshore schemes on the advice of tax experts in Los Angeles and elsewhere - and largely when Australia's international tax laws were not as onerous as they are today.
Last week, three of Egglishaw's other Australian clients, Gold Coast businessmen Daniel Stoten, Adam Hargraves and Glenn Hargraves, appeared in court on the Gold Coast charged with conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth prosecutor, Simon Allen, told the court they were involved in "a very sophisticated tax fraud" and "there were very significant and large sums of money which were sent overseas and ultimately deposited into Swiss trust accounts operated by the defendants".
The court heard that money was then brought back into the country by using debit cards issued by a Swiss bank. Each of the three men faces a maximum of 10 years' jail.
A portion of Hogan and Cornell's film royalties is thought to have initially been sent to Chile and the Netherlands Antilles, in the Caribbean.
Twentieth Century Fox, which licensed rights to the Dundee films outside the US, and which is owned by News Corp, is thought to have facilitated similar arrangements with a number of its Hollywood stars. Hogan and Cornell's earnings were later shifted to trusts administered in other tax havens by Egglishaw, a chartered accountant from Jersey in the Channel Islands, now living in Geneva.
A lawyer who was acting for Hogan and Cornell, David Rydon, said yesterday he had not received instructions to respond to the Herald's inquiries and could not say where Hogan was. Both Cornell and Hogan are in the process of selling substantial real estate in and around Byron Bay.
In November, the pair sold 460 metres of beach frontage at Broken Head for $A5 million. In May, Hogan sold a $A1.95 million beach house, while Cedar Springs, the mansion at Possum Creek he has been trying to sell for some years, remains on the market for an estimated $A10 million.
Hogan's real estate agent, Graham Dunn, said Hogan and his family were no longer living at Cedar Springs because they were "OS".
Cornell and his wife, Delvene Delaney, have recently entered negotiations to sell their Byron Bay Beach Hotel, but are anxious to avoid the impression of a fire sale. Cornell recently rejected a $65 million offer from the Hedley Group, a Queensland hotel and construction company, through Jones Lang LaSalle, according to a real estate agent involved in the negotiations.
The agent said Cornell had approached some potential buyers and been contacted by others. "The owners are considering their options," he said.
He called back later to say he had "very recently" received a fax from Cornell stating the property was not "formally" on the market.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/smh170.gif