Following yesterday’s revelation that the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has issued just 17 orders (out of at least 30,000 sales) to foreign property investors to dispose of their illegally held assets since 2003, along with the finding in September that FIRB had failed to prosecute a single foreign buyer in eight years, The Australian has today revealed that FIRB has been undertaking their surveillance of foreign property investment blindfolded, with immigration officials admitting they do not tell FIRB when temporary residents who have bought properties leave Australia, or when their visas expire:
The revelation confirms suspicions that authorities are blind to the activities of most foreign investors and have no idea when they break the law by continuing to hold properties after leaving Australia.
