Crime agency boss Nicole Rose says she doesn’t ‘personally’ know how long it took to call cops over potential child sex crimes
Austrac CEO Nicole Rose faced a gruelling hearing after News Corp reported on her meteoric rise, with limited police experience, to the top of Australia’s financial crimes watchdog.
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Despite Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton vehemently denying any delay by Austrac in referring potential child sex exploitation cases to Australian Federal Police for investigation, CEO Nicole Rose has admitted she “personally did not know how long it took”.
Austrac officials have also revealed in Senate Estimates in Canberra on Monday they have no deadlines or maximum time-limit protocols for the financial crimes watchdog to refer data about “Tier 1 “ serious and organised crimes such as child exploitation to police.
During intensive questioning by Labor Senator Louise Pratt, Ms Rose also admitted Austrac had not detected the potential child exploitation transactions and it was Westpac Bank which self-reported the financial matters to the watchdog.
Ms Rose was being questioned at Estimates after a News Corp investigation into claims Austrac had potentially bungled police investigations into the suspected child exploitation crimes by sitting on information for too long and then prematurely releasing information about potential suspects before police had time to act.
Ms Rose also faced tough questioning in Estimates over the way she was appointed to the top job and claims made on the Austrac website and in annual reports tabled in parliament that she held “tertiary qualifications in business and management”.
News Corp undertook an eight-month investigation into the Ms Rose’s meteoric rise, with limited police experience, to the top of Australia’s financial crimes watchdog ahead of candidates with decades of law enforcement and legal experience.
It was sparked by revelations that Ms Rose was not only the contact person for job applicants, which included a judge, a Commissioner, a deputy Commissioner, lawyers and police, she sat on the selection panel interviewing candidates for the CEO of Austrac position.
The investigation also revealed that the annual reports of Austrac tabled in parliament and the agency’s website, stated Ms Rose had tertiary qualifications in business and management.
The CV she supplied to News Corp revealed the only formal qualification she had was a Diploma from a Hotel School in Hotel Management.
When questioned about that Diploma at Estimates, Ms Rose said she could not recall when she completed it.
Ms Rose also admitted her biography on the Austrac website had been changed to remove any references to her “tertiary qualifications in business and management” after questions were asked by News Corp.
News Corp had sent a list of questions to Ms Rose last week about her CV, but she declined to answer any of them.
Austrac spokeswoman also said it “would not be appropriate for Austrac to comment on your detailed questions in relation to the Westpac matter as it is currently before the Federal Court.”
Austrac also did not answer any questions about whether it has guidelines around reporting deadlines to police, has any backlog of suspicious matter reports, nor how many analysts work on child exploitation reports.
Mr Dutton had come out strongly in support of Ms Rose on the ABC Insider’s program refuting any bungling of the Westpac case and dismissing revelations about her CV as a “hatchet job” and a personal attack on her when she was “going after some pretty big fish”.
Ms Rose was catapulted into the public spotlight last year after Austrac launched a shock civil action against Westpac Bank for allegedly failing to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing laws 23 million times and singling out 12 bank customers suspected of child exploitation in a Federal Court statement of claim.
But it has been claimed that despite Westpac self-reporting the 12 cases starting in July 2018 Austrac had not referred them to the AFP to investigate until November 14, 2019 six days before it launched the civil action against Westpac and revealed intimate details about the potential offenders.
Only person has been charged with child exploitation related offences.
Police have since found two of the 12 cases were not related to child exploitation activities.
Ms Rose told Estimates she was “appalled” by suggestions Austrac had held back reporting the Westpac cases to police to support its civil case against the bank.
Originally published as Crime agency boss Nicole Rose says she doesn’t ‘personally’ know how long it took to call cops over potential child sex crimes
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