Accused money launderer Zhaohua Ma says his family needs $921k a year to live

He’s not quite the face of Australia’s cost of living crisis, but Eastern Suburbs man Zhaohua Ma does have some substantial money problems.

Police seized a Porsche Macan at the property. Picture: AFP

The family of a man accused of being one of the heads of a $10 billion money laundering operation have revealed they need $921,704 a year just to meet their “ordinary and reasonable” living expenses.

Eastern Suburbs man Zhaohua Ma is facing a cost of living crisis on a higher level than most people battling to stay afloat in Sydney.

He is one of 20 people charged over a $10bn international money laundering operation and has been behind bars with his bail refused since February 2023.

Police also seized a Porsche Macan and a VW Touareg outside his property.

Zhaohua Ma was arrested at his Bellevue Hill home in 2023. Pictures: AFP

As a result, he has defaulted on the $9.2 million mortgage on his Bellevue Hill home, which property records said he purchased in 2018 for $9.3 million.

NAB took action in the NSW Supreme Court where Justice Tim Faulkner this week granted them permission to sell it and aired the details of Ma’s financial troubles.

On top of his mortgage pressure, the court was told Ma has eight children, aged 14-24, all of whom live at home.

With Ma in jail, the court heard his wife, Yanhua Jiang, has been tasked with figuring out the family’s finances.

The court was told she hired “PT Business Advisory” to “help me review my bank statements and work out the ordinary and reasonable living expenses of my household”.

The firm advised that her total annualised family living expenses is $921,704.

Police seized cash, jewellery and cars during the raids.

That figure includes $284,509 per year in private school fees for their four school aged children.

The wife told the court that she “expects (the figure) will decrease now that three of the children have been moved to a “local government school”.

Some of the children have undertaken some paid work to assist the family.

The wife told the court that one of the adult children has developed “psychological issues while carrying some burden on the family”.

In an attempt to stay afloat, the court was told Ms Yanhua has borrowed $518,000 from family and friends since April 2023.

Ma was one of nine people arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police in a massive operation targeting an alleged Chinese-Australian money laundering syndicate accused of moving an estimated $10 billion out of Australia.

Jewellery seized during the raids.

A Richard Mille watch seized by police during the raids that sells for more than $500,000.

Police allege the group amassed a portfolio of high end Sydney properties including mansions, a ritzy building in Sydney and massive land holdings near the construction site of the second airport.

The AFP froze properties - including Ma’s Bellevue Hill mansion - while seizing assets and cash worth at least $150 million.

Investigators allege the money transferring operation involved a shadow banking set up that ran from Australia to Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, America and the Middle East.

One of the main functions of the operation, police allege, was to purchase luxury Sydney properties.

A car seized by police.

Police also allege the syndicate was providing services for international drug cartels and wealthy Chinese nationals.

Ma was charged with one count of using money or property worth more than $1 million as an instrument of crime.

He has not made a bail application since his arrest and the AFP has frozen his assets while launching an asset seizure case in the Supreme Court, leading to his liquidity problems.

On August 22, 2023, NAB issued a default notice demanding payment of the $9 million that Ma owed on the mortgage.

He didn’t make any payment and the amount due has since increased, the court heard.

In May, it tipped $9.5 million and would have increased further since.

Ma will face the Downing Centre Local Court on September 18.