SONNTAGS ZEITUNG (Germany), LE MATIN (Switzerland), SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia)
GENEVA – You might remember Australian actor Paul Hogan from Crocodile Dundee movie, the 1986 comedy about a crocodile hunter from the deep Aussie bush who falls in love with an American journalist and follows her to the urban jungles of New York City.
Culture shock! Hilarity ensues!
Well now it seems Crocodile Dundee is in for another shock – he has lost $34 million he stashed away in the dense jungle of offshore accounts, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Swiss newspaper Le Matin reports that Hogan’s millions have been lying for nearly 20 years in an account at the Corner Bank in Lausanne, but that Hogan cannot access the account. Of the two men managing the account, one is in jail and the other is a fugitive.
According to the Sonntags Zeitung, Offshore Leaks documents indicate that the actor’s tax advisor, Philip Egglishaw, created a trust for Hogan in 1994, which was run by his Geneva-based accounting firm Strachans.
The trust funneled money into offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands to avoid Hogan paying tax on revenue from his three Crocodile Dundee films. Strachhans principals Philip Egglishaw and his partner Philip de Figueiredo managed the account for years.
Strachans also set up elaborate tax structures for a number of clients in what appears to be Australia’s biggest tax evasion scheme – involving prominent Aussie entrepreneurs and actors, some of which ended up serving time for tax evasion. Hogan himself managed to escape jail by settling with the Australian Tax Office.
Last month, Figueiredo pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Australian government of $4 million in tax and is serving two and a half years in jail.
An international arrest warrant has been issued for Egglishaw, but he is believed to be in Switzerland, says the Sonntags Zeitung. Latest developments suggest that he is alleged to have “”absconded with or spent”” the actor’s $34 million.
Here’s a classic scene from Crocodile Dundee:
