THE Federal Court has frozen $35 million worth of assets belonging to former Murchison Metals director Phillip Grimaldi, following urgent action by the Australian Taxation Office.
The tax office sought freezing orders against the assets of Mr Grimaldi, businessman Garry Bonaccorso and two companies as part of the court action.
One of the companies is Vanuatu-based and linked to Robert Agius, the alleged mastermind of a $100 million tax fraud scheme. The company, IFTC Broking Services Ltd, has been ordered not to remove from Australia more than $3.5 million.
IFTC Broking is said to own tens of millions of shares in more than 60 Australian companies listed on the ASX. It also has bank accounts in Australia and New Zealand.
There is no link in the documents between Mr Agius or the Vanuatu company and Mr Grimaldi or Mr Bonaccorso.
Mr Grimaldi's assets include NZ bank accounts holding $US32 million and $14 million in cash, according to court documents obtained by The Australian.
Millions of shares in companies such as Murchison, Golden West Resources and Karmelsonix Ltd also form part of the assets identified by the ATO and presented to the Federal Court.
The tax office rushed to court last week to have the freezing orders made. No notice was given to Mr Grimaldi, Mr Bonaccorso, who had $3.5 million of his assets frozen on the same day, or either of the two companies.
The orders place restrictions on disposing or transferring assets that Mr Grimaldi and Mr Bonaccorso have in Australia but one exception is if they make a payment to the tax office.
Lawyers for Mssrs Grimaldi and Bonaccorso could not be contacted last night.
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