Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The Australian Government can provide information about financial transfers to Australia originating from Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) through:

(a) Police-to-police requests made between Australia and PNG,

(b) Formal requests for mutual assistance made via the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987, and

(c) Communication of financial data collected by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).

Police-to-police assistance

Police-to-police assistance allows law enforcement agencies in one country to obtain information from law enforcement agencies in another country. This could include preliminary inquiries to determine whether evidence of an offence, such as the proceeds of crime, is located in a foreign country. Police-to-police assistance is often used at the early investigation stage or to obtain evidence that does not require the use of coercive powers.

The information is not provided automatically and is only considered upon request. Police-to-police assistance can be provided to a foreign country's police force and agencies that undertake law enforcement and/or regulatory functions.

Mutual assistance

Mutual assistance is the process countries use to obtain government-to-government assistance in criminal investigations and prosecutions. Mutual assistance can be used to identify and recover the proceeds of crime.

Australia can consider mutual assistance requests from any country pursuant to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987. Any response to a request for mutual assistance from PNG would be provided to the PNG central authority for mutual legal assistance.

AUSTRAC information

Section 132 of the AML/CTF Act, allows financial intelligence collected by AUSTRAC to be passed to a foreign Government provided appropriate undertakings in relation to protecting the confidentiality of the information and controlling its use have been provided. The information can be provided either directly by AUSTRAC under subsection 132(1) or by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) under subsections 132(3) and (4) or the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) under subsections 132(6) and (7).

AUSTRAC does not exchange information with its counterpart financial intelligence unit (FIU) in PNG. In order to meet the 'appropriate undertakings' requirement of subsection 132(1) of the AML/CTF Act, AUSTRAC only exchanges information with foreign FIUs where an exchange agreement between AUSTRAC and the foreign FIU is in place. AUSTRAC does not have an exchange agreement in place with the PNG FIU. It is most unlikely that such an agreement would be entered into until such time as the PNG FIU becomes a member of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, which provides an international platform for information exchange, training and the sharing of expertise.

The AFP and the ACC can provide AUSTRAC information to PNG, provided appropriate undertakings under subsections (3) and (6) respectively have been entered into.

AUSTRAC data can be provided either spontaneously or upon request, provided the legislative criteria are met. If the statutory criteria were met, the information could be provided the PNG FIU or a PNG law enforcement agency.

(2) AUSTRAC, the AFP and the ACC did not disseminate any AUSTRAC data (e.g. financial intelligence) to PNG authorities regarding PEPs in the 2011-12 financial year.

In relation to mutual assistance (e.g. requests for evidence), it is an offence under section 43C of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987 to disclose whether a foreign government has made a mutual assistance request to Australia. As a result, we cannot comment on whether Australia has received any requests for mutual assistance in relation to PNG.