Paul Hogan hit by tax probe

SYDNEY - It could be the plot for a new Crocodile Dundee film, in which the rough-neck innocent abroad is caught up with murky Caribbean tax havens, high-flying accountants and a top-secret crime commission.

But this time actor Paul Hogan, a former rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge who made good, is starring in a real-life drama after becoming embroiled in a tax avoidance probe.

His 1986 film Crocodile Dundee, made with business partner John Cornell, became an international hit.

In those heady days former Prime Minister Bob Hawke declared in the United States that he was from "Crocodile Dundee country".

The star and his homeland capitalised on the rugged individualist who was an emblem of every suburban Aussie's outback fantasies.

But times change. Despite Hogan's iconic "throw another shrimp on the barbie" ads, credited with doubling the number of American tourists Down Under in four years, he has become a remote figure in his own land.

It is claimed that millions of dollars of royalties were paid by 20th Century Fox to an array of tax structures stretching from Chile to the Antilles. Hogan and his family, it is said, drew funds from automatic teller machines using cards issued by banks in the tax havens.

The secretive Australian Crime Commission, which has controversial coercive examination powers, is said to want to question the actor about the arrangements and look into his account records.

"Operation Wickenby ... has identified numerous promoters and participants, including a number of prominent Australians, who are utilising offshore services to avoid tax liabilities," the commission's website says.

A Hogan source said any failure to pay tax was a result of ignorance rather than dishonesty. He said the investigation was most likely examining the role of Hogan's tax advisers and not the star himself, and that the advisers might not have understood Australia's tax laws.

The commission is investigating links between Hogan and two brothers, Philip and Richard Egglishaw, who work for Strachans, a Swiss firm of tax haven specialists.

- INDEPENDENT