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ABC News
9 hours ago
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- ABC News
The ATMs fueling the illegal tobacco trade
An ABC investigation has uncovered a connection between the illicit tobacco trade and a major Australian investment bank.
ABC News
a day ago
- Business
- ABC News
Macquarie Group company's private ATMs are helping fuel the illegal tobacco trade
It's known as the millionaires' factory: one of the nation's most prestigious investment banks with a reputation for creating enormous fortunes from blue-chip companies. But an ABC investigation has found that among multimillion dollar investments held by the prestigious Australian-founded Macquarie Group is a company raking in dollars from the nation's booming illegal tobacco trade. The link between the prominent investment house and the illegal trade has been uncovered by an ABC investigation tracking the vast flow of money from the underworld industry that costs the government billions and is linked to violent organised crime. At the centre of the deal is the provision of networks of privately-owned cash dispensing ATMs that have been placed in tobacconists, despite their links to criminals and blatant illegal sales activities. The arrangements — which in some cases allow shop owners to load their own cash into the machine — highlight a regulatory black hole facilitating tax avoidance and money laundering, according to experts. Macquarie's link to the trade is via its 47 per cent ownership in private company Next Payments that is supplying the private ATMs to businesses. Next Payments contracts out its machines to the businesses or individuals. Both can receive a share of the transaction fees. The ABC has confirmed Next Payments has supplied multiple ATMs to tobacco shops around Queensland. Some of the deals involve supplying ATMs to companies and individuals who have been found guilty of illegal tobacco possession and sales. One deal uncovered by the ABC involves Next Payments continuing to supply ATMs to a convicted criminal, despite him having been found guilty of illegal tobacco possession some which was allegedly hidden in cat food packages. Another case involved Next Payments allegedly having a deal to supply ATMs to businesses connected to a man who is the subject of a proceeds of crime court action by the NSW Crime Commission, according to court records. He was allegedly stopped with over $500,000 in cash in NSW in 2023. The onsite ATMs are providing a vital source of instant cash for the businesses as customers are usually asked to purchase illegal tobacco products for cash. So important is cash to the businesses, some outlets barely the size of a small convenience shop host two of the Next Payments ATMs. The cash-only transactions allow illegal tobacco sellers to fly under the radar of the tax office and present money laundering opportunities when shops load their own cash into the ATMs — despite the money potentially being proceeds of crime, according to experts. The deals also raise questions about Macquarie and Next Payments adherence to environmental, social and governance policies promising ethical and lawful business practices. Overseas, the use of private ATMs to fuel criminal enterprises like the tobacco trade and drug dealing have been recognised. Earlier this year Canada brought in new laws requiring information be supplied to regulators about people leasing private ATMs, the owners of any cash loaded into ATMs, and how cash going into the ATM was transported. But in Australia no such requirements are in force for the operators of the machines, who in some cases have been found to be convicted criminals. Among an ongoing Next Payments deal uncovered by the ABC is an agreement to supply ATMs to a company directed and owned by convicted criminal Mostafa Jamal Al Deleymi, who has been linked to tobacco stores north of Brisbane. In 2023, police alleged Mr Al Deleymi was stopped in north Queensland carrying over 100 kilograms of tobacco, some of it hidden in cat food packages. In March this year he pleaded guilty to possession of illegal tobacco, and was convicted and given a nine-month good behaviour bond. During his sentencing hearing, a judge was told he had reformed and reportedly set up a business supplying cash to ATM machines. A business called Replenishatms currently features Mr Al Deleymi as the sole director and shareholder. Next Payments entered a business arrangement involving the ATMs with Mr Al Deleymi's company after he was caught with the alleged load of illegal tobacco in north Queensland, according to Personal Property Security Register searches. This week at a shop linked to Mr Al Deleymi just north of Brisbane, the ABC found a Next Payments ATM. The shop was closed early June after the landlord issued a notice, addressed to Mr Al Deleymi and another company, taking back possession of the business premises. When the ABC visited the site, a sign on the door of the closed shop directed customers to another business in a neighbouring suburb which also hosted a Next Payments ATM and was selling illegal cigarettes for cash. Mr Al Deleymi's personal director's contact address is a derelict house in Morayfield, just north of Brisbane. Court documents filed with regulators link this address to another man who is facing a proceeds of crime seizure court action by the NSW Crime Commission, after he was allegedly stopped in silver Ford Ranger in NSW carrying $530,000 in cash in March 2023. Efforts to contact Mr Al Deleymi were unsuccessful. The ABC also confirmed Next Payments recently had a deal to supply an ATM to a company, Devimaa, for use in a shop selling tobacco in the Toowoomba CBD. That was despite the company pleading guilty in the magistrate's court in 2018 to charges of displaying an ice pipe and bongs and breaching laws around employees training in relation to the sale of tobacco. Among other deals involving Next Payments and tobacco sellers was a double machine deal in a shop selling illegal tobacco in Toowoomba, about 120 kilometres west of Brisbane. In the ST Tobacco shop in south Toowoomba, which is about the size of a small convenience store, the company has provided two Next Payments ATMs. The machines were the company's "premium model" which feature an eye level screen showing advertisements. Shop assistants were selling illegal Manchester brand cigarettes without the required health labelling for $10 and said they only dealt in in cash sales. Customers who did not have cash were told they could use the machines if needed. Regulatory records show the company that registered the business had granted collateral security for two Next Payments ATMs to the Next Payments company. Efforts to contact company's shareholders and director were unsuccessful. Do you know more about this story? Email or Next Payments CEO Tim Wildash has defended the company's operations, describing the tobacco store business as representing only about 1 per cent of the company's revenue. He said they reported suspicious behaviour to the authorities. He declined to comment specifically on the business deal with Mr Al Deleymi's company or those found guilty of illegal tobacco sales offences. Mr Wildash said the company was "currently assisting on a live investigation and welcomed any information regarding allegations of illegal activity which should immediately been directed to assessed by the appropriate law enforcement agency". He said Next Payments had always worked closely with authorities to proactively flag suspicious behaviour and assist in investigating any claims concerning illegal activity, including those regarding tobacconists. Mr Wildash said Next Payments had procedures in place regarding identity checks, as well as company director searches for new ATM installations. He said they would continue to work alongside authorities, as well as leading the industry on a range of consumer protection activities, including developing harm minimisation software to assist problem gambling and ATM technology to cap cardholder usage and withdrawal amounts. Mr Wildash rejected concerns that self cashing ATMs represented a money laundering risk because anomalies would be noticed quickly in the bank accounts being used. "We will cooperate 100 per cent with law maker and regulators as we have done," he said. Macquarie declined to answer questions about the business or how it complied with its policies, with a spokesperson referring the ABC to Next Payments' response. Macquarie's own code of conduct asks staff to consider if actions are compliant with "the law, regulation or policy". "And even if you can do it, should you?" the code asks. Its own environmental, social and governance policies declare a focus on managing the "legal and regulatory environment". Next Payments' own core values include being "lawful, ethical and responsible". Black market economy and money laundering experts say the presence of the machines providing instant cash are boosting the opportunity for tax evasion and increasing cash laundering risks. Professor Miranda Stewart of the University of Melbourne Law School said if the tobacco store's business was based around cash sales, then having an ATM on site is "a great enhancement to the business model". "It would obviously help drive the cash business — people don't like carrying cash and would have to find a bank down the main street,'' said Professor Stewart, who previously led the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University and was on the advisory group for the Treasury's Black Economy Taskforce, which reported in 2017. "It [having an ATM on site] is a clever economic behavioural approach to running a cash business. "It seems there is not much regulation of these private cash ATMs. It is not clear how much oversight the ATO has of cash dealings through private retail ATMs, even though a bank account is required.'' Professor Stewart said operating a business with just cash sales enables the evasion of a range of taxes. "Operating a cash business enables evasion of income tax and GST as well as the tobacco excise," she said. Banking compliance and financial crime expert Neil Browne said private ATMs presented a "glaring gap in the financial systems defences against money laundering". "Unlike bank-operated ATMs, private machines can be filled and refilled with cash without any verification of the funds' origins,'' he said. "This loophole creates a straightforward method for the initial stage of money laundering — placement. "A criminal with access to a private ATM can simply deposit proceeds of crime into the machine, placing illicit cash into circulation without triggering any Know Your Customer or Enhanced Customer Due Diligence checks. "ATMs are not subject to these same rigorous standards, the entire transaction — despite ending in what appears to be a legitimate electronic transfer — is not scrutinised beyond the moment of withdrawal." AUSTRAC — the nation's money laundering watchdog — yesterday confirmed there was a lack regulation around the ATMs which reduced visibility for law enforcements and referenced their presence in tobacconists. An AUSTRAC spokesperson said the private ATMs were a target for criminals and with limited oversight they provided an easy way to move dirty money through the system unnoticed. He said AUSTRAC did not regulate private ATMs under the Money Laundering Laws and Counter Terrorism Funding Act, which results in a lack scrutiny. "Private ATMs are often located in high cash turnover sectors which are linked to organised crime, including tobacconists, pubs and clubs and brothels,'' he said. Next Payments is not paying dividends but generated an $8.2 million profit in the last financial year off $131.6 million in revenue — the lion's share from transaction fees for ATMs.
