A West Australian senator has sensationally retracted bombshell claims the Perth Mint has been holding gold for Russian oligarchs subject to sanctions and drug cartels.
Senator Dorinda Cox made the explosive claims during a parliamentary inquiry into the embattled mint and its compliance with Commonwealth laws and regulations on Thursday.
She had noted media reporting that a notorious former bikie was able to buy $27,000 worth of gold without proper background checks and indicated she’d been informed of the mint holding gold for terrorism groups and drug cartel’s.
But hours later she corrected the record and said the evidence she was referring to was entirely based on media reports she had read and watched.
“I just want to correct the record on that the conversations that I’ve had with people is about … the level of concern around clients that are listed by the Perth Mint,” Senator Cox said.
Australia’s financial crimes authority, AUSTRAC, has been investigating the mint over its compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
AUSTRAC’s acting deputy chief executive Bradley Brown told the inquiry the authority had concerns the mint’s identity checking wasn’t up to scratch.
He said the authority also had concerns about the reporting of transactions.
“Fundamentally it goes to the fact that you need to know who you have as a customer … to actually seek to prevent your business being exposed to criminal activity,” Mr Brown said.
AUSTRAC confirmed an “approximately 160 page” independent audit had been submitted to the authority last Friday evening, but no recommendations had been made.
Mr Brown said the report would not be made public until the matter is finalised.
The financial crimes authority has issued just six directions for independent audits across the 17,000 entities it supervises.
The mint is also under fire over a decision to sell diluted, or “doped”, bullion to China, below the Shanghai Gold Exchanges’ strict standards.
Doping is an industry wide accepted practice as long as the gold remains above the 99.99 per cent purity level in each bar.
The mint and its parent company Gold Corporation did not appear before the inquiry on Thursday but it is understood representatives could be asked to give evidence at a future hearing.