Here is the Complete Report by Umar Cheema published in The News
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: A story that unfolded in Pakistan exposing how an Australian company, with the help of its government, duped the Musharraf government through expensive gifts to earn influence and access, later converted into a global financial scandal unmasking details of 130,000 offshore accounts.

The Australian firm so mesmerised the military ruler that he visited Australia and signed an MoU with it, and its CEO was treated like a VVIP in Pakistan. But when the big scam was busted some time after an investigation, a court ordered it to be liquidated and its CEO banned for 20 years.

Gerard Ryle, an Australian journalist, now director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, who played an instrumental role in exposing this scam, shared details during his presentation at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference here.

Later, some anonymous source passed Ryle a cache of 2.5 million secret records of off-shore companies like the globe thus widening the scope of his investigation that he did with the help of 86 journalists from 46 countries.

Among others, the scion of a Punjab political family was spotted as a shareholder of a British Virgin Islands firm set up with the help of Swiss Bank UBS.This political heir of a famous central Punjab family was also tainted in that scam as stories appeared in April this year wherein the top political leaders of the Philippines, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Georgia and other developing countries were caught having off-shore companies, far away from the public record and eyes.

Ryle started pursuing the case when he was an investigative reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald. The Australian company’s engagements with the Pakistani authorities, with the help of Australian government, offer an instructive insight into the corporate world and how deals are sealed and favours change hands.

Not only was Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan involved as she also ‘bought’ shares after brokering the deal with Pakistan, the entire game was being played with the blessings of the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Other than Pakistan, they also convinced the governments of UK, Russia, Romania and other countries that the fraudulent company offered important solutions to global warming and energy crises.

As for their deal with Pakistan, it all started when Australia did not have warm relations with Pakistan due to the military rule and the company worked behind the scenes to melt the ice in relations.

Drama started unfolding in May 2005 when (then) Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan Zorica McCarthy brokered a meeting between the CEO of the said company and the then foreign minister in order to convince him that the company could save the country US$500 million per year in its energy bill.

A month later President Musharraf’s visit to Australia was arranged. The CEO was one of the honoured guests of the Australian PM to greet Musharraf in the Parliament on June 16, 2006. Same day, the company signed a MoU in Sydney granting a Pakistani company the option to become its distributor in Pakistan.

As the CEO later visited Pakistan in September 2005, he was an honoured guest of the Pakistani government and held meetings with the then petroleum minister and environment minister. “He also met privately with Musharraf and presented him with an A$30,000 (Rs3.1 million) ceremonial dagger he had purchased in Australia,” journalist Ryle mentioned in his book titled: “The most spectacular fraud in Australian History.”

A Pakistani English daily carried a story: “Australia to set up petroleum plant,” in its September 10, 2005 edition. As the CEO returned to Australia, he played up the media coverage of his visit and wrote in an e-mail to his colleagues: “The meetings were televised for several days and received nation-wide coverage.”

Australian Prime Minister John Howard visited Pakistan in November 2005 and signed six agreements with his (then) Pakistani counterpart and the said company was one of them. Exactly 14 days after the agreement was signed, Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan McCarthy bought 200,000 shares in Firepower at a minimal price of 10 cents each and alter also purchased for her daughters.

The story was published in Sydney Morning Herald questioning the credentials of this fraudulent company involved in big deals with the blessings of government over raising US$60 million without making financial disclosure to investors. Suspicions were also raised about the company’s products as whether they actually worked as advertised.

Likewise, it was advertised as Hong Kong-based company with offices in Sydney, Rhodes, Athens and Papua New Guinea, in reality it was a handful of people in an Australian estate, Perth, who were conducting a complex fraudulent operation. The original entity was a one dollar company, first registered in December 2004 and owned by an offshore holding group with an address in British Virgin Island.

Australian journalist who broke the scandal initially faced legal threats from the fraudulent company but managed to survive through documents and also wrote a book. His position was vindicated when Australian Securities and Investment Commission also verified the veracity of allegations during investigation and a federal court ordered the liquidation of the company banned Johnston from managing any company for next 20 years.It is estimated that $21 to $31 trillion are hidden in offshore localities with corresponds to the economies of the USA and Japan combined.

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