Parents of jailed crime boss Rocco Arico accused of breaking tax office asset freeze deal

CRIME boss Rocco Arico’s parents have been accused of breaking a deal they made with the Australian Taxation Office as it hunts the gangster’s fortune.

Rocco Arico’s parents have been accused of breaching a deal with the tax office to not dispose of their assets.

• Rocco Arico’s parents chased for $470K by the Commonwealth Bank
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JAILED crime boss Rocco Arico’s parents have been accused of breaching a deal with the tax office to not dispose of their assets.

ROCCO ARICO’S WIFE PLEADS WITH TAX OFFICE TO ACCESS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR FORTUNE

The claim came as the mobster’s parents lost a bid to have a freeze order on their Brunswick West home lifted.

The Supreme Court heard that Antonio and Antonia Arico, both unemployed and who this month claimed they could not afford a barrister, had sent money overseas in a series of transfers.

Antonia Arico, mother of Rocco Arico, at her West Brunswick home.

The Australian Taxation Office is pursuing the couple for more than $2 million in allegedly unpaid taxes and had applied to the court for an extension of orders freezing their assets.

The ATO claimed the pair had already breached an undertaking last December to not dispose of their Brunswick West home or any interest in other assets.

It alleged $61,800 was withdrawn from an ANZ account in April.

The Aricos were represented by their son’s wife, Franki Arico, who denied they owe the claimed tax debt.

“They’ll fight for what they believe. They feel like they’re being a little bit bullied by the ATO,” Ms Arico told the court.

She opposed the continuation of the freeze order over her parents-in-law’s Albion St home and sought an increase in the $500 a week the couple are allowed for living expenses.

Franki Arico denies Antonio and Antonia Arico owe the claimed tax debt.

A lawyer for the ATO said the evidence supporting its claim was “conclusive”.

The tax office claims Mr Arico owes it $1,033,062.22 and Mrs Arico $1,047,554.87.

In a separate matter the couple have also been accused of failing to pay back a $470,000 loan to the Commonwealth Bank.

They are also subject to restraining orders made under the Confiscation Act.

In a decision published on Wednesday Justice Maree Kennedy found that if the freeze were lifted there was a real risk that any judgment for the money to be repaid could not be satisfied.

Justice Kennedy also rejected the request to boost the Aricos’ allowed living expenses and lift the freeze on their home.

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