KEY POINTS:
The multi-government agency probe into the use of offshore tax evasion and tax havens by wealthy Australians landed its first high-profile scalp this week - the former promoter of the Little River Band, John Farnham, Delta Goodrem and champion boxer Kostya Tszyu.
Glen Wheatley has rolled in a deal with the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and will plead guilty to tax offences, probably in July in a plea hearing.
Wheatley will be the first conviction by Operation Wickenby, the taskforce comprising five government authorities digging and scratching around the paper and money trails of wealthy individuals using illegal offshore tax minimisation schemes.
Wickenby - made up of the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Public Prosecutions, Australian Federal Police, the ACC and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission - has indicated there are up to 300 celebrity names on its radar and last year promised a truckload of prosecutions. Wheatley is certainly a high-profile case and involves the controversial Swiss accounting firm, Strachans.
Some of the allegations have Wheatley using Strachans to funnel funds overseas, citing a particular case in 2003 where he used the Swiss firm to minimise his tax liabilities from income generated from promoting a Kosta Tszyu fight against American boxer Jesse James Leija in Melbourne. Strachans allegedly sent Wheatley invoices for A$700,000 ($792,000) for services not rendered. Wheatley's company then paid about A$400,000 into offshore trusts managed by Strachans on his behalf.
The charges carry potential jail terms of up to 10 years.
"I'm trying to work my way through this," Wheatley said this week after the conviction was made public by the ACC. However, he expressed frustration about his being made the poster boy for the Wickenby taskforce.
"I haven't thrown up anything in their [ACC's] way. Why am I the only celebrity who's been named in this? There are supposed to be 300 of them."
Indeed, the tax office estimated that more than 500 taxpayers might have used arrangements by international scheme promoters similar in nature to Wheatley's and in its latest annual report predicts Wickenby will raise about A$300 million in additional tax revenue.
And the ACC this week flagged more charges were imminent.
"Investigations are continuing in Australia and overseas into a number of similar complex cases involving numerous individuals with a view to laying criminal charges," ACC chief executive, Alistair Molroy, said.
Operation Wickenby began in 2002 when the tax office asked the ACC to investigate a case which arose from information seized as part of a tax investigation and is the first time five government agencies have combined information and powers to investigate and prosecute offshore tax evasion.
Wheatley might be the first "celebrity" to be convicted but more than a few of his high-profile colleagues must be rather twitchy at the moment.
Paul McIntyre is a Sydney journalist.