By Andy Young
Tabcorp has announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Australian Transactions Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) to resolve its long-running Federal Court case.
The case centres allegations that Tabcorp failed to tell the government about a number of TAB accounts that were opened using false names and that were used fraudulently by organised crime members.
The agreement between the two parties will see Tabcorp pay a $45m fine, plus AUSTRAC’s legal costs. In addition Tabcorp will make “a number of admissions of non-compliance with its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) obligations under its old AML/CTF program. The agreement also means that AUSTRAC will withdraw its remaining allegations of non-compliance.
In a statement about the agreement Tabcorp said that it “acknowledges that there were a number of deficiencies in its former AML/CTF program, which resulted in a serious contravention of the AML/CTF legislation”.
The statement added: “[Tabcorp] also acknowledges that it did not comply with certain other obligations under the AML/CTF legislation, while that program was in place. These deficiencies were not the result of a deliberate intention to breach the AML/CTF legislation. Tabcorp has cooperated fully with AUSTRAC in addressing the matters the subject of the Federal Court proceedings and has responded to its concerns.”
Tabcorp’s Managing Director and CEO, David Attenborough, added: “Tabcorp is firmly committed to being the industry leader in regulatory compliance across all of our operations. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with AUSTRAC on this matter and we will continue to work co-operatively with AUSTRAC going forward.”
As a result of the problems with its old AML/CTF program, Tabcorp has said it has made a “significant investment” to enhance its compliance in this area including a new AML/CTF program which it says AUSTRAC has acknowledged as a “material improvement on its former program”. The company has also conducted refresher training of around 29,000 staff and established a Financial Crime Risk team and employed a Chief Risk Officer.