Philip Egglishaw, accused of Australia’s biggest tax scam, arrested 13 years after leaving the country

THE man accused of Australia’s largest ever tax fraud freely travelled Europe for more than a decade, staying in the finest hotels before he was arrested.

EXCLUSIVE

THE man accused of Australia’s largest ever tax fraud travelled Europe for more than a decade, driving luxury cars, playing golf and staying in the finest hotels before he was arrested 13 years after leaving Australia.

Philip Jebson Egglishaw, 63, the alleged mastermind of a tax scam which embroiled celebrities including Crocodile Dundee actor Paul Hogan and saw music promoter Glenn Wheatley jailed, was nabbed by police in a $2500-a- night suite in Italy’s most luxurious hotel, the Villa d’Este in Lake Como.

A News Corp investigation has revealed that prior to his May 3 arrest, British citizen Egglishaw freely travelled between his luxury villa in Monaco, and a flat in Geneva in Switzerland, two floors above a suburban police station.

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Villa d'Este luxury world hotel, Cernobbio, Lake Como, Italy. Picture: Alamy

Officers from the police station would play with his Saint Bernard dog, despite their neighbour being the subject of an INTERPOL red notice since 2008 for allegedly masterminding a $2.2 billion tax fraud which prosecutors claim saw profits made in Australia diverted to offshore bank accounts in a sophisticated tax avoidance scheme.

British citizen Egglishaw was identified in a routine procedure which requires Italian hotels to provide passport details of their guests each night to police.

He has told an Italian court that he does not wish to be returned to Australia, and that the statute of limitations — the time allowable for him to be prosecuted on the charges — has expired.

He remains in prison at Bassone, a suburb outside Como, in northern Italy, pending a full extradition hearing.

Egglishaw was travelling on his own passport when he and British partner Sheila Jordan checked into room 560, a junior suite at the Villa d’Este, a hotel so luxurious it has a floating swimming pool suspended in Lake Como, and George Clooney is a neighbour and guest at its flagship restaurant.

They arrived on May 2, and their passport details were forwarded to police that night.

Four police officers came into their room at 9.30am the next day, detaining Egglishaw and searching the room for 30 minutes.

The hotel general manager, Massimo Dorino, was present for the search and acted an interpreter.

Mr Dorino would make no comment when approached by News Corp.

“We are not authorised to release any information due the privacy and regulation of our past and present guest(s),’’ he said.

Flying squad police seized Egglishaw’s laptop computer, eight USB sticks, three smart phones and two external hard-drives.

Police also discovered Egglishaw was driving his French-registered white Bentley GT Cabriolet, or convertible, a car which sells for around $277,000 new, and he had the keys to three more cars — a Lamborghini, an Audi and a Mazda 6 — in his possession.

Egglishaw’s cars were not impounded.

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Glen Wheatley being driven home from Beechworth Correctional Centre after serving time for tax fraud.

The seizure was almost identical to that which occurred in 2004, when police raided Egglishaw’s suite at the former Sheraton Towers hotel in Melbourne and seized his laptop, discovering a trove of documents which formed the basis of Project Wickenby, the ATO inquiry which led to the conviction of 46 people including Wheatley.

The scam is alleged to have fleeced up to $34 million from actor Paul Hogan, who was also investigated, but never charged, along with his partner John Cornell, as the ATO searched in offshore accounts for around $90 million in royalties from the three Crocodile Dundee films.

Hogan and Cornell later both settled with the ATO and always maintained their tax arrangements were legal.

The Australian Government through Attorney-General George Brandis has applied for Egglishaw’s extradition, saying he was wanted on charges including fraud and money-laundering, allegedly committed between 1994 and 2005.

Egglishaw appeared in a private hearing in the Milan District Court, where he disputed the charges and said he would resist the extradition application.

Philip Jepson Egglishaw as pictured on his Interpol profile . Picture: Interpol

Rome lawyer Luca Marafioti, who briefly represented Egglishaw, told News Corp the statute of limitations on the charges had expired and it was his opinion that Egglishaw should not be extradited.

It’s understood Egglishaw told the court he was not hiding from justice, had lived freely in Europe since 2004, and that he wanted to be released into home detention, to a house in Italy. His request was rejected by the court.

It is believed he and Ms Jordon have a house in Monaco where they live with two children — a teenaged daughter and a young adult son.

However, the address Egglishaw gave police was a rented flat in Geneva, which the pair have also lived in for many years.

New tenants have moved into the flat since Egglishaw’s arrest, with neighbours saying Ms Jordan has returned to Monaco.

Originally published as Philip Egglishaw, accused of Australia’s biggest tax scam, arrested 13 years after leaving the country