Perth Mint Scandal

[Blue Flu 1,000]

Anybody see the recent 4 Corners and the goings on in The Perth Mint , an institution of world standing now totally tarnished in reputation . It is owned by WA government and McGowan , looked like he prefer to be anywhere else than answering questions by the reporter Angus Grigg , who done an outstanding investigation. 

The implications around corruption , lack of transparency, ethics , I mean allowing The Bank of Cyprus, (well-known bank for laundering Russian corrupt money) without any checks what so ever , along with that bank in Puerto Rico (now closed by Americans for lack of colleterial) are damning examples in themselves. 

 

But the 'doping' of gold by adding silver, and selling onto to Chinese , if found to be so diluted, as to be less than the claimed 99% I believe  may well end up costing tax payers a fortune. 

At least a light has been shown on dubious practices (at best) in this state. Let's hope it extends to other dirty practices such as throwing light onto the  cartels, which appear hell bent on  turning this city and regions  into a narco state and all that involves. Well some of us live in hope. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

Why has this thread been sanctioned? It is a newsworthy story, material fully disclosed on a public median. Further it has the potential of costing the tax payer a substantial amount of money. Was this an order from another source? 

[calNgary 9,176]

1 hour ago, Blue Flu said:

Why has this thread been sanctioned? It is a newsworthy story, material fully disclosed on a public median. Further it has the potential of costing the tax payer a substantial amount of money. Was this an order from another source? 

What on earth are you on about ''an order from another source?

ANY new thread posted in CTF regardless of who writes it requires approval before it goes on the forum. 

        Cal x

[Toots 11,752]

When I saw the thread title I immediately remembered the Perth Mint Swindle in the very early 1980s.  That was a very messy affair and to this day nobody seems to know what was what.  The Mickleberg brothers were jailed over it but their convictions were eventually quashed and the brothers sued the Western Australian government for libel.  The also received an apology from the WA police.

This current scandal is a lot worse than that.  How on earth did they think they could get away with it?  The Mint could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars which as you say will have to be stumped up by WA taxpayers.

[simmo 21,613]

8 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

Anybody see the recent 4 Corners and the goings on in The Perth Mint , an institution of world standing now totally tarnished in reputation . It is owned by WA government and McGowan , looked like he prefer to be anywhere else than answering questions by the reporter Angus Grigg , who done an outstanding investigation. 

The implications around corruption , lack of transparency, ethics , I mean allowing The Bank of Cyprus, (well-known bank for laundering Russian corrupt money) without any checks what so ever , along with that bank in Puerto Rico (now closed by Americans for lack of colleterial) are damning examples in themselves. 

 

But the 'doping' of gold by adding silver, and selling onto to Chinese , if found to be so diluted, as to be less than the claimed 99% I believe  may well end up costing tax payers a fortune. 

At least a light has been shown on dubious practices (at best) in this state. Let's hope it extends to other dirty practices such as throwing light onto the  cartels, which appear hell bent on  turning this city and regions  into a narco state and all that involves. Well some of us live in hope. 

They're all probs high on meth.

[Parley 7,392]

17 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

Anybody see the recent 4 Corners and the goings on in The Perth Mint , an institution of world standing now totally tarnished in reputation . It is owned by WA government and McGowan , looked like he prefer to be anywhere else than answering questions by the reporter Angus Grigg , who done an outstanding investigation. 

The implications around corruption , lack of transparency, ethics , I mean allowing The Bank of Cyprus, (well-known bank for laundering Russian corrupt money) without any checks what so ever , along with that bank in Puerto Rico (now closed by Americans for lack of colleterial) are damning examples in themselves. 

 

But the 'doping' of gold by adding silver, and selling onto to Chinese , if found to be so diluted, as to be less than the claimed 99% I believe  may well end up costing tax payers a fortune. 

At least a light has been shown on dubious practices (at best) in this state. Let's hope it extends to other dirty practices such as throwing light onto the  cartels, which appear hell bent on  turning this city and regions  into a narco state and all that involves. Well some of us live in hope. 

I haven't seen the program but it may be a complete beatup.

The industry standard for pure gold is 99.99% pure or often called 4 nines gold.

Perth are saying they diluted from 99.996% down to 99.992% to meet the standard more closely.

[Blue Flu 1,000]

20 hours ago, Toots said:

When I saw the thread title I immediately remembered the Perth Mint Swindle in the very early 1980s.  That was a very messy affair and to this day nobody seems to know what was what.  The Mickleberg brothers were jailed over it but their convictions were eventually quashed and the brothers sued the Western Australian government for libel.  The also received an apology from the WA police.

This current scandal is a lot worse than that.  How on earth did they think they could get away with it?  The Mint could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars which as you say will have to be stumped up by WA taxpayers.

Exactly my thoughts. How hard were they done by. I recall a 4 Corners show on that sorry saga some years back as well. Does anything really change? 

This is far more serious, but I fully expect the government to attempt to squirm their way out of the mess (doesn't end there of course) by denying all knowledge (even though it has been going on for years) I suspect they didn't think too much, beyond thinking they have it all under control by legal means , with no one able to speak without heavy legal sanction. 

thank goodness, we have some investigative journalism left in this country and reporters willing to seek out the truth. Hopefully it won't be a cover up and no one is accountable, as is too often the case. 

The CEO has resigned. Thing being he was only in that position for a relatively short time and the rot was well entrenched the time he took the position. 

But yep. The Wild West lives up to its name. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

19 hours ago, simmo said:

They're all probs high on meth.

Sort of goes without saying. You probably mean more to the point the financial gains made by those in the business of meth manufacture cartels , most likely due to no checks , washing their gains through the purchase of gold. 

It seems vern probable. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

11 hours ago, Parley said:

I haven't seen the program but it may be a complete beatup.

The industry standard for pure gold is 99.99% pure or often called 4 nines gold.

Perth are saying they diluted from 99.996% down to 99.992% to meet the standard more closely.

I don't see any beat up in the disclosures. The Mint had a reputation now tarnished. Thank goodness for the Shanghai Gold exchange checking their purchase. When something is declared 'pure' as in these gold bars, a small amount of silver seems to be acceptable. But it is a very fine line. The Mint exceeded that line and got busted. As simple as that. 

What is worse in my book is The Mint allowed clients to laundry their money by way of not having any checks. The C word come to mind here. 

But the sad thing is that by cheating on the purity , the mint only made only a small amount of money all things considered, but lost far, far more in reputation and reliability. (worth infinitely more) 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

I wonder if tax payers will be slugged yet again by the bad dealings of government. Some may recall WA ING  from the eighties. Ended up costing the tax payer a lot of money. Alsp a ALP government. 

I was told recently by a very well established person, I won't give more away because posts are checked, that WA is the most corrupt state in The Commonwealth, and has been for a considerable time. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

21 hours ago, calNgary said:

What on earth are you on about ''an order from another source?

ANY new thread posted in CTF regardless of who writes it requires approval before it goes on the forum. 

        Cal x

Well I never. Only CTF is censored prior to appearing then? First heard of that. I suppose makes sense in a senseless sort of way. WE can't have any old riff ruff riding rough shot over carefully manicured threads. 

[rtritudr 292]

27 minutes ago, Blue Flu said:

I don't see any beat up in the disclosures. The Mint had a reputation now tarnished. Thank goodness for the Shanghai Gold exchange checking their purchase. When something is declared 'pure' as in these gold bars, a small amount of silver seems to be acceptable. But it is a very fine line. The Mint exceeded that line and got busted. As simple as that. 

The Shanghai Gold Exchange is threatening to sue ABC for libel 

[Parley 7,392]

Nothing in the papers and clearly a non story.

As i said the industry standard for pure gold is 99.99% which was adhered to.

[s713 2,022]

The real scandal is Perth mint is a totally tedious day out.

[Blue Flu 1,000]

4 hours ago, s713 said:

The real scandal is Perth mint is a totally tedious day out.

Glad you find time to be so light hearted about it. Although I agree, not a place I would venture to for a day out. But surely further underlines the issues around WA, both in the past and present. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

14 hours ago, Parley said:

Nothing in the papers and clearly a non story.

As i said the industry standard for pure gold is 99.99% which was adhered to.

Don't know what papers you read but it remains an issue in The West Australian. Usually a mouth piece for present government. Clearly a very big story indeed. Hopefully no sweeping under the carpet in this instance. One thing for certain. This has a long way to play out. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Only a gain of a bit over $600,000 . But millions in tarnished reputation. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

The world's biggest precious metals exchange The London Bullion Matketing Association has announced it has launched an 'incident review process', into The Mints clandestine gold doping. 

The LBMA said it was taking very seriously allegations relating to The Perth Mint. 

[Nemesis 1,714]

7 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

Glad you find time to be so light hearted about it. Although I agree, not a place I would venture to for a day out. But surely further underlines the issues around WA, both in the past and present. 

A good sense of humour is what keeps many of us going, surely you realise that? 

Its like the so-called "black humour" in many areas of emergency services, doesn't mean people aren't concerned about the deeper issues & events, but they are easier to cope with if you can smile occasionally. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

On 10/03/2023 at 18:16, Nemesis said:

A good sense of humour is what keeps many of us going, surely you realise that? 

Its like the so-called "black humour" in many areas of emergency services, doesn't mean people aren't concerned about the deeper issues & events, but they are easier to cope with if you can smile occasionally. 

Not sure where the humour is in the 'corruption' that has apparently been revealed with the Mint fiasco. Like so much else in this state. No. What should be the result is the government being called out to give answers and not hide behind a wall of silence. Nothing to do with 'smiling occasionally. This state is in serious trouble and those responsible need to be held accountable. We don't need to go further down the road to becoming a 'rogue' state. 

[Parley 7,392]

5 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

Not sure where the humour is in the 'corruption' that has apparently been revealed with the Mint fiasco. Like so much else in this state. No. What should be the result is the government being called out to give answers and not hide behind a wall of silence. Nothing to do with 'smiling occasionally. This state is in serious trouble and those responsible need to be held accountable. We don't need to go further down the road to becoming a 'rogue' state. 

What corruption? Be careful what you say. 

[Blue Flu 1,000]

24 minutes ago, Parley said:

What corruption? Be careful what you say. 

You'll note I wrote 'apparent" . You'll need to listen to those with more expertise on the matter that spoke on the 4 Corners Report. Next you'll be suggesting it was a left wing 'beat up' and nothing wrong was ever done. 

I just wish the net would be cast further to haul in the laundering on money in the property game. 

[Parley 7,392]

2 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

You'll note I wrote 'apparent" . You'll need to listen to those with more expertise on the matter that spoke on the 4 Corners Report. Next you'll be suggesting it was a left wing 'beat up' and nothing wrong was ever done. 

I just wish the net would be cast further to haul in the laundering on money in the property game. 

Ok. So how many people have been arrested and charged by the police.

Please bring me up to date with the legal outcomes of this corruption.

[Blue Flu 1,000]

15 hours ago, Parley said:

Ok. So how many people have been arrested and charged by the police.

Please bring me up to date with the legal outcomes of this corruption.

Surely you must be aware it is not on the level of someone being caught with their hand in the till , helping themselves at their employers expense. It will be a very long process. I think we all are aware in many areas of life, those that should be sanctioned for corrupt and illegal activities are not necessarily brought to account. Do you really think such an operation going on around The Mint , with minimal state government support or interest will be a quick solution? It may well drag out for years, largely depending on overseas interest in taking action and continued Australian investigative media interest , where it may well be  'convinced' to take another road. 

Thankfully The West Australian paper has been keeping the issue alive. This paper , not a favourite of mine, has long been a supporter of this present state government.