Members from a Melbourne and Sydney based price fixing cartel have been sentenced, following a major joint AFP and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation spanning several years.
Operation EUPORIE resulted in the prosecution of three men and one woman over their roles in a price fixing cartel, which targeted the Australian Dollar and Vietnamese Dong exchange rate, and transaction fees via money transfer remitters in Sydney and Melbourne.
A Vietnamese money remittance company, which operated business branches in New South Wales and Victoria, fixed the Australian Dollar and Vietnamese Dong exchange rate, and the transaction fees it charged customers, in contravention of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).
The investigation was launched by the AFP and ACCC in 2014, after the AFP received allegations of cartel conduct by a money remittance company known as Vina Money Transfer.
Investigators identified that the company's branches were communicating and colluding over exchange rates for Vietnamese currency over a five-year period.
The AFP arrested three people during the operation, while a man and a woman from Melbourne were also charged and summonsed to court.
Four were successfully prosecuted, after pleading guilty to price fixing charges under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). While the company Vina Money Transfer was also charged.
In June 2022, the four cartel members were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, which were fully suspended with Recognisance Release Orders after each pleaded guilty in the Federal Court of Australia in Victoria.
The company Vina Money Transfer Pty Ltd was also convicted and fined $1,000,000.
AFP Detective Acting Inspector Jarrod Ragg said the investigation was extensive and was one of the first operations where the AFP and ACCC collaborated to crackdown on financial crime of this nature.
"This operation wiped out an entire syndicate spanning across two states. It should serve as a warning to offenders - price fixing is criminal conduct - and will not be tolerated," Detective Acting Inspector Ragg said.
"Operation EUPORIE was an extensive investigation and is an excellent example of how the AFP collaborates with partner agencies to stamp out price fixing and collusion."
