The ACCC is investigating allegations the ACCC received money from a number of Australian property investors.
The money allegedly came from an Australian investor in a property company called ABAC.
The ACC is looking into the allegations, but the ACC has so far not released any evidence of wrongdoing.
The ABC’s The World Tonight spoke to a former employee who said ABAC paid $1 million to the ACC for a report in April 2016 that said it had secured $500 million in loans for its Australian property businesses.
It was later discovered ABAC had paid the ACC a commission for doing so.
“The company told the ABC it paid $500,000 to the ACAC commission to make sure that the ACAT [ACCC] would not be made aware of this, and that the commission was not given any documents, so the ACCAC was not able to do any investigation of it,” the employee said.
The employee told The World tonight the company never told the ACC about the commission and it did not provide the commission with any documents.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to the ABC, the ACC said it has “strong, robust, independent and independent oversight of the ACC’s compliance program” and it “has no relationship with the ACC”.
“ACAC has an independent, rigorous and transparent compliance program that is designed to ensure that the ACC complies with the legal requirements of the laws in each jurisdiction, and it is critical that this program is conducted with integrity,” the ACC statement said.
“As a result, ACAC has not received any evidence that the company or its employees were involved in any way with the commission or any other transaction.”
The ACC said in a statement that the agency has “investigated allegations that an Australian property investor received $1.9 million from the ACC in exchange for a $500m commission”.
“The ACC has established that there was no breach of its obligations under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 1996,” the statement said, adding the agency would be “looking into the matter”.
The employee said the ACC did not tell the commission about the payment until after it was made.
He also said ABac did not give the commission any documents that might help it determine whether the commission should be investigated.
“It was not until after the commission made their report that the person was told that the Commission would have to look into it,” he said.
What you need to know about aba: ACC says it will investigate ABAC ‘investigation’ ABAC has confirmed it is conducting an investigation into the ACC and its compliance program.
“ABAC is currently undertaking an independent and rigorous investigation of the allegations against it, and will be seeking to provide a response in due course,” the company said.
ABC’s Lateline contacted the ACC but did not receive a response.
The story has been updated.