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A Corporate Services Provider helped a PEP who was found guilty of a narcotics supply operation on the darkweb.

14/01/2025

A former Australian political leader’s son, Mark Chikarovski, was convicted of supplying narcotics and prescription drugs and was helped by an offshore company to operate in several jurisdictions and to establish a bank account in Cyprus.

Documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal that Chikarovski was a client of SFM Corporate Services in Geneva, Switzerland, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Chikarovski, from Sydney, is the son of former New South Wales Liberal Party leader Kerry Chikarovski and was:-.

  • Was caught wearing blue latex gloves and stuffing drugs into an Australia Post envelope at an apartment in Sydney’s Bondi Junction suburb when detectives arrested him in May 2023.
  • Was remanded to prison before his sentencing, recently sold a $10 million (AU$15 million) home with harbour views in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse to a businessman from China.
  • The prosecutor said that at the time of the offence, Chikarovski had two Porsche Cayennes, about $40,000 (AU$60,000) in private school fees, and a $1.4 million (AU$2.2 million) mortgage.

Police say Chikarovski:-

  • Received cryptocurrency in exchange for prohibited drugs on thousands of occasions since 2017.
  • Sold vast quantities of cocaine and other drugs on the dark web under the alias “AusCokeKing” in exchange for cryptocurrency.
  • Had been selling MDMA, crystal methamphetamine and prescription drugs, as well as cocaine, on the dark web.

Guilty

  • On Dec. 6, he was sentenced at a Sydney District Court to a 35-month intensive corrections order
  • Mark Chikarovski pleaded guilty to charges over his multimillion-dollar dark web narcotics supply operation, using the marketplace Abacus.
  • Prosecution documents reportedly showed Chikarovski sold drugs to undercover police across 18 different transactions between February and May 2023.
  • He advertised the drugs online as being “premium European imports” and offered cocaine at a “spring sale” price of about $200 (AU$299) and “limited edition meth.”

SOW

  • Detectives discovered large quantities of drugs, two Porsche SUVs, about $20,000 (AU$30,000) in cash and $178,000 (AU$269,000) worth of cryptocurrency during raids on the apartment and a home in the Vaucluse area.
  • Australian police say Chikarovski and his wife, Hannah, led a lavish lifestyle despite him having no discernible income.

SFM CORPORATE SERVICES.

Documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal Chikarovski was a client of SFM Corporate Services' Geneva, Switzerland, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, offices and:-

  • Chikarovski is identified in the SFM documents as the contact for a shell company called ​​Aquay Holdings Ltd.
    • Aquay was operating from at least 2015 until at least 2019, SFM documents show.
  • Chikarovski provided SFM with a copy of his passport, a phone bill and a water bill with a Paddington, Sydney, address.
  • Chikarovski paid fees over several years to SFM for providing a UAE address and nominee director and shareholder services for Aquay Holdings.
  • SFM billed Chikarovski after establishing Aquay’s position in the UAE AND SEYCHELLES using nominee director and shareholder services,  
  • SFM billed Chikarovski for Aquay employing a registered agent in RAS AL-KHAAFI in THE UAE.
  • SFM also billed Chikarovski when the shell company established a SECOND BANK ACCOUNT IN CYPRUS.

SOURCE

Contributor: Ben Schneiders (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/records-tie-narco-trafficking-son-of-former-australian-political-leader-to-offshore-company-and-cyprus-bank-account/

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