Eastern Australia Irrigation registered at Cayman Islands law firm linked with Iran weapons program

The Cayman Islands-based company linked to a controversial multimillion-dollar water buyback shared an address with two companies blacklisted for being proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.

The Cayman Islands-based company linked to a controversial multimillion-dollar water buyback shared an address with two companies blacklisted for proliferating weapons of mass destruction.

Eastern Australia Irrigation is registered at the home of international law firm Walkers, a member of the “offshore magic circle” of law firms specialising in helping clients move money to low-taxing countries.

EAI is the parent company of Eastern Australia Agriculture, which has come under the spotlight during the election campaign over a $79 million water deal with the Australian government.

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For several years, EAI shared a registered address with Persian Equity Fund and Mehr Cayman Ltd, designated by the US Treasury as proliferators of WMDs over links to Iran’s Bank Melli, suspected of having a role in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor was a director of EAI while it was based at “Walker House”, a three-storey building in the Cayman Islands, along with dozens of other companies.

A spokesman for Mr Taylor said last night: “Any suggestion that one company is linked to another, simply because they are registered at the address of the same law firm, is false and misleading.”

The Cayman Islands-based company linked to a controversial multimillion-dollar water buyback shared an address with two companies blacklisted for proliferating weapons of mass destruction. Picture: Mick Tsikas

Mr Taylor was a director of EAA until 2009, and a co-­founder and director of EAI, stepping down just before entering parliament in 2013, but denies benefiting from the transaction.

The Morrison Government this week referred all water buybacks under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan to the Auditor-General for review, while Labor has promised to hold a commission of inquiry into the two deals with EAI.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce signed off on the water purchase in 2017, although he has said he had no involvement in determining the price or the vendor.

Labor also approved a $4.3 million river purchase with EAA while it was in government in 2013, which was done under an open tender and while the parent company shared an address with the two Iranian-backed companies .

EAI was registered at the Cayman Islands address as recently as December last year, while Mehr Cayman Ltd and First Persia Equity were based there as late as January 2016.