Liberal $200k money laundering scam highlights need for national ICAC

The federal Liberal Party's failure to declare a $200,000 donation, from a Grundy related company, again highlights the need for a national ICAC and for a major overhaul of electoral funding laws, Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon.

"The federal Liberal Party have been exposed using a third party, in this case the Free Enterprise Foundation, to try and hide the donor of this large donation," Senator Rhiannon said.

"The Free Enterprise Foundation was named by the NSW ICAC as being one of the organisations involved in funnelling donations, illegal in NSW, back to the state Liberals for the 2011 state election.

"A national ICAC is urgently needed to investigate if associated entities, such as the Free Enterprise Foundation, are involved in money laundering.

"The underhand activities of the federal Liberals has been exposed with the statement from a spokesperson for Akira Investments that made the $200,000 donation, that Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane directed that the donation go through the Free Enterprise Foundation to ‘maintain their privacy'.

"I will be proposing to my parliamentary colleagues that the current electoral funding laws are overhauled to achieve greater transparency by lowering the level of disclosure for political donations to $1000.

"The Greens call on the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate cases such as this where there is a major inconsistency in the information supplied by the donor and the political party that receives the donations," Senator Rhiannon said.

Associated entities are organisations controlled by, or operating to a significant extent for the benefit of, a registered political party. The Free Enterprise Foundation is classified by the AEC as an associated entity of the federal Liberals and Nationals.

Contact - Brami Jegan 0478 350 880