Australian corporate representatives and regulators have stepped in to halt an apparent attempt to fraudulently claim a USD 2.3 million tax refund. Authorities directly link this tax refund to a company tied to the Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) joint venture.
As per the authorities, an individual who has been identified within the documents as Daniel Alexandrov, is supposed to receive unauthorised access to certain digital systems which are supposedly associated with Rusal Australia Pty Ltd. This is the subsidiary of UC Rusal, which is the co-owner of QAL with Rio Tinto.
Moreover, the employees at the firm have also reported suspicious activity and have further communicated with QAL as well as Victoria Police as a preventive measure from being reissued and blocking access to the firm's corporate registry information.
Concurrently, the investigators suspect the same individual gained unauthorised access to the firm's Australian Taxation Office (ATO) online account. This comes after the removal of the legitimate account administrator as well as the changed nominated banking details prior to submitting a refund claim of nearly USD 2.3 million.
Before the start of the investigation, the ATO had already released a payment of USD 81 thousand, which, however, was halted soon after internal systems discovered the irregularities. Soon after the halt of the payment, the formal review was launched by the authorities.
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The examination mainly focused on identifying if the unauthorised access to the system was being done by making use of myGOVID credentials, which were obtained in a short period of time in late March. As per the records of ASIC, where the mentioned Alexandrov was temporarily listed as the director of Alumina and Bauxite Company Ltd (ABC), the holding entity via which UC Rusal is said to hold 20 per cent interest in QAL.
For further investigation, the ATO have assigned this matter for a criminal assessment and multiple government registers, which also include the Australian Business Register, ASIC and the Personal Property Securities Register, which have cancelled or withdrawn documents which are directly linked to attempted change of ownership or control.
These documents require registration of Vostin Pty Ltd, a firm which is directly associated with Alexandrove, in the position of beneficial owner of Rusal Australia's interest in QAL. ASIC has shared that it is preparing materials which will be used for referral to federal and state law enforcement agencies while the investigation is still in progress.
The firm has been providing full support so far within the investigation and has also started with the additional internal reviews of the access and governance process. On the other hand, ABC, the holding company for UC Rusal's QAL stake, also shared that it is assisting the ongoing investigation as well as undertaking internal checks.
Till now, the investigation has not been able to make charges, and the current location of Alexandrov has not been disclosed by the investigators.
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