1:00PM Clem Bastow | You’ve probably heard that the ATO has been chasing Paul Hogan over alleged tax liabilities over the past few months; well, now they’ve gotten the IRS onboard to attempt to back Hoges into a corner and make him lie down by using the Ridgy Didge hand signal waved in front of his face.
If, like me, “tax time” involves crying whilst sitting in the middle of a mountain of scrunched up receipts, most of the jargon will be just that, but all you really need to know is that Hogan plans to fight back. Presumably with a large hunting knife.
Hogan is the most high-profile target of the $300 million Operation Wickenby investigation into tax fraud and evasion, set up three years ago. Details of several offshore trusts and companies holding $40 million in proceeds from films such as Crocodile Dundee were leaked to the media in 2005, but no action has been taken against Hogan, his artistic collaborator John Cornell or their financial adviser, Tony Stewart, all of whom have denied any wrongdoing.
It is not known why the IRS, acting on behalf of the Australian tax office, issued the summonses in May to City National Bank, HSBC and the Union Bank of California demanding 9 1/2 years’ worth of “account opening documents, signature cards, monthly statements, copies of canceled checks (front and back), deposit slips and all other deposit or withdrawal documents for all transactions that exceed $50,000″.
Hogan’s Australian-based lawyer said yesterday his client regarded the actions by the ATO as an unlawful attempt to obtain irrelevant material.
Thus endeth Defamer Australia’s serious journalism portion of the day’s proceedings.
Well, now that we’ve got that out of the way, all things considered, I think now is as good a time as any to enjoy this re-cut version of the Crocodile Dundee trailer:
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