Hi FP,agree totally on your sentiments on bots. Pure evil if you...

Hi FP,
agree totally on your sentiments on bots. Pure evil if you want my opinion. Designed to 'steal' the money of skilled retail investors. All it needs is for the Govt to change the law. I wait in anticipation of this, hopefully.

As for the ASIC and the ATO - the fact is, in today's era of supercomputers, my bet is the ATO works VERY closely with ASIC!!! Some evidence for this is that the ATO has actively chased the people alleged to be involved in the Wickenby tax evasion scheme. More evidence might be when you go into your tax agent to get your tax return done, and they look at (and treat ) YOU as if you were a 'tax cheat'......sure sign the ATO has 'put the heavies' on the Tax Accountants.

Let's face it, it is tax time - and this is the time of the year that anyone doing who has been involved in 'dirty deeds, done dirt cheap' via manipulation of the share market etc.etc. may be in for an awful fright. Sometimes, the ATO just needs people to incriminate themselves though their own tax return, before the action begins.
If you don't believe the ATO and ASIC work hand in glove, think of the way Centrelink and the ATO combine to catch out the 'Centrelink cheats'. The claw backs in avoided tax from market manipulation would far exceed anything Centrelink gets from the working class, the unemployed and the underemployed. Having a part time job at say a cafe, while collecting the dole pales into insignificance when compared to the financial gains from market manipulation.
So, I believe we can all be absolutely sure the ATO is onto this - and we can all be ABSOLUTELY SURE the ATO is working closely with ASIC on this. Today's AFR front page story is further proof of this. I for one, believed ASIC was asleep at the wheel. In fact, they were just gathering evidence, it would appear.
Why do I believe this? You only have to look at the headlines in the last few days, where Swan and his govt cronies say they are putting more staff into ASIC 'to stop carbon tax ripoffs'. For a govt desperate to claw back the huge mountain of debt they have run up, you can bet that is only part of the reason.

This could be the time to make sure you (a) be very careful about what you declare in Capital Gains this year and
(b) if you have been cheating/manipulating the share market, be afraid - be very afraid. You simply cannot be sure what evidentary material the ATO and ASIC already possess on individuals. i.e. me or you, or anyone of us. As stated earlier, sometimes they just need you to incriminate yourself (through a false tax return) before taking (legal/criminal) action.

It would be a very, very bad decision/conclusion to believe that the ATO and ASIC are NOT communicating closely!! This Govt is desperate for money - lots of money - and it wants some 'lambs to slaughter'.

All the above is my personal opinion. DYOR.