From the AFR:
…two wedding gifts were just the beginning of what Su, the son of a powerful Chinese railway official, would receive during his time in Australia.
After his father, Su Shunhu, was sentenced to life in prison for corruption by a Beijing court last Friday, an investigation by AFR Weekend has pieced together the money trail between China and Australia.
…[$1.2 million] was wired to Australia from both the industrial city of Nanchang, south west of Shanghai, and Hong Kong in 16 separate instalments.
Since it began landing in Australia, the couple have bought and sold around $4.5 million worth of property in Sydney.
…Tom Clarke, a Melbourne barrister who has acted on proceeds of crime matters, says it is still early days for testing laws allowing the recovery of corrupt payments, some of which only came into effect in 2010.
…Clarke says these laws are “onerous and a strong weapon” for authorities to use, but there are a number of potential loopholes. “If the assets are in the name of a child then that is certainly going to make it more difficult.”
Ironies abound. While a communist Chinese Government pursues corrupt officials and their rorted money squirreled away with distant offspring, an Australian democracy deliberately opens up to launder the cash in its real estate market, selling out its own children in the process.
Talk about bonfire of the values!
