Australia`s anti-corruption legislation lags far behind world standards, according to the Australian Financial Review. While government is seeking reform, Australia`s real estate industry has taken the lead and started spontaneous boycott black money inflows.
It is understood that the constant flow of money into the real estate industry has caused concern among government, investors and industry insiders, prompting the latter to step up their efforts to crack down on the industry`s money. The National Crime investigation Agency (NCA) introduced the unidentified Wealth Act (Unexplained wealth orders) in February, forcing property investors to explain their sources or confiscate their properties.
Real estate industry "dirty money" convergence has become a global problem. (Centre for Advanced Defence Studies), a Washington-based centre for advanced defense research, reported this month that most of Dubai`s real estate market was financed by war-rich traitors, terrorism financiers and drug cartels.
Australia is not immune to the flow of black money into local markets. Australian real estate is seen as a haven for storing wealth, which can sometimes be illegal.
Last year, Wang Junren, director of the Guta Branch of the Jinzhou Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province, was jailed for taking bribes to buy two properties for his two daughters in Australia. Since then, the surge in investment in Australian property by Chinese investors has become a particular concern.
Wang Junren Information Map.
Wang Junren used bribes to buy Australian property for his daughter.
Nicole (Chris Nicholl), head of the Oceania division of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said the risks of bribing, corruption, for money laundering and terrorist financing spread across our industry, regardless of geography and expertise. If these risks are not properly identified and managed, they can directly affect day-to-day work, businesses and consumers, and the trust of these groups in professionals.
The RICS standard, which is currently under negotiation, sets out the relevant ethics and professional conduct that it has identified, and provides practitioners and companies with clear principles on how to constitute a breach.
At the same time, the Australian authorities have complained about the crackdown on real estate "dirty money", money is not effective. This year`s financial secrecy index, (Financial Secrecy Index), notes that Australia has "no doubt" large deposits of illegal offshore funds. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development`s (OECD) Task Force on Combating bribery in International Business also said Australia was insufficient to prevent "dirty money" from flowing into the local real estate market.
The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) also warned the Australian real estate industry of significant money-laundering risks, noting that the biggest problems with Australia`s anti-corruption regime were real estate agents, accountants and auditors. Lawyers and non-financial professionals are not required to fulfil their obligations under the Anti-money laundering and counter-Terrorism Finance Act (AML/CTF).
Australia`s anti-black economy group, (Black Economy Taskforce), has recognized the shortcomings of its anti-money-laundering system and has proposed a series of reforms to improve transparency and accountability.
