A financial crimes expert says the revelation of large-scale fraud connected to the pork industry raises new questions about the risk of money laundering in food production.
Four people, who are all business owners or representatives in the pork meat industry, allegedly kept $10 million in sales off the books, altered use-by dates on frozen meat products and moved cash interstate in freight vehicles between 2017 and 2026.
They have been charged with a range of fraud-related offences, including fraud, destroying records with the intent to defraud, receiving tainted property and making false declarations.
More than $25 million worth of assets, including $3 million in cash and two motor vehicles, was seized as suspected proceeds of the crimes.
Griffith University Academy of Financial Crime Investigation and Compliance director Andreas Chai said using legitimate trade to disguise the proceeds of crime was a common method of money laundering, but it was rare to see it connected to agriculture.
Andreas Chai says he is interested in the unusual case. (Supplied: Griffith University)
“This is quite interesting … interstate using pork hasn’t really come up on the radar before,” he said.
“It makes sense [because] there’s a lot of this kind of agricultural products moving between states all the time.
“But usually … [it’s] high-value stuff like wine.”
How cooking the books works
Trade-based money laundering involves falsely reporting the value of goods, either by over-invoicing or under-invoicing.
Professor Chai said it was often used to create a legitimate “cover story” for money earned through illegitimate or illegal activities.
“Usually what happens is there’s an accumulation of dirty money … they need to move the money in a way that is not suspicious,”
he said.
“When a bank or an accountant or a lawyer might ask, ‘Where’s this money coming from?’ they have paperwork that says this is related to trade … when in fact it is actually dirty money.”
The investigation involved the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, the NSW Crime Commission, and members of the NSW Police anti-money laundering unit. (ABC News)
The joint investigation involved the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, the NSW Crime Commission and members of the NSW Police anti-money laundering unit.
Detective Inspector Gilbert Laverdure said it was a complex cross-border operation.
“Criminal networks that seek to exploit business structures and move illicit funds across state borders should expect to be identified and investigated,”
he said.
“The NSWPF [NSW Police Force] will continue to work closely with partner agencies to detect, disrupt and prosecute any serious offending.”
Authorities have not released the names of the charged individuals or the businesses they were connected to, but did say two were from Queensland and two were from New South Wales.
It is alleged the offending happened between 2017 and 2026. (ABC News)
Professor Chai said investigators would be looking for changes to records to determine the true value of goods, usually through a forensic audit of the companies’ systems.
“You’ve got records in terms of the company that’s sending it and the company that’s receiving it,” he said.
“They would be taking a very close look at the IT systems, when things have been changed, why they’ve been changed.
“You could probably pick up a pattern … about how these records were being altered over time.”
Vulnerable links in the supply chain
Peak industry body Australian Pork Limited (APL) declined to comment while the matter was before the courts, but said all businesses must follow the law.
Australia’s pork industry works separately to the wider red meat industry with its own industry body; it conducts its own research and development, and pork is processed through separate speciality meatworks.
The latest industry data published on APL’s website showed more than 470,000 tonnes of pig meat was produced in Australia in the March quarter this year.
Australian Pork Limited is the peak industry body for the pork sector. (ABC News: Pip Courtney)
Across the country, there are more than 4,700 registered pig production sites, which, according to APL, contributed $6.9 billion to the economy in the 2024-25 financial year.
New national anti-money laundering regulations have extended the obligation to verify the origin of money and report suspicious transactions beyond banks and casinos to include real estate agents, conveyancers, lawyers and accountants
“There’s greater responsibility on company directors to pick this up,”
Professor Chai said.
“The pork industry and others might have to do some more risk assessment around what the money laundering risks are around these systems.”
