The Finance Department believes three of the government's largest employers may have been among agencies tangled in the Plutus Payroll scandal before federal police ended the suspected $165 million tax scam.
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During investigations of the government's exposure to Plutus, the department gave the Australian Federal Police a list of 35 agencies using labour hire firms that had relationships with the payroll company at the centre of the alleged white collar fraud.
The list, given to senators this week in response to Senate estimates questions in October, shows the government may have been highly exposed to Plutus, which was allegedly used by a syndicate skimming money owed to the Australian Tax Office.
One of the agencies named on the list was the ATO, which investigated the alleged fraud and whose former deputy commissioner Michael Cranston is accused of accessing restricted information on a Tax Office audit for his son Adam, allegedly a party to the scam.
Finance said two agencies may have been directly involved with the payroll company, which charged no fees for transferring wages before it was later implicated in one of the largest alleged tax frauds in Australian history.
Among other agencies using contractors from labour hire firms that had a relationship to Plutus were major government employers the Department of Human Services and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and the Australian Bureau of Statistics appear on the list given to federal police.
Finance Department secretary Rosemary Huxtable previously told senators at the Senate estimates hearing in October that the agencies may not have had a direct link to Plutus, but had indicated they engaged labour hire companies that may have used the payroll firm.
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Companies linking contractors to government departments paid money to Plutus on the basis it would be used to pay wages and salaries as well as PAYG contributions to the ATO.
But the AFP alleges a percentage of the funds that should have been paid in tax was skimmed by a syndicate and spent on lavish lifestyle expenses in a white collar fraud racket.
Finance has also confirmed it engaged seven contractors through external companies that had a relationship with Plutus Payroll.
Following a Senate estimates hearing in May, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told senators it engaged 23 contractors who used Plutus Payroll for payment while doing government work.
PM&C said it engaged the contractors who used Plutus through five labour hire companies: Programmed Professionals, First People Recruitment Solutions, Dynamo IT, Hays Recruitment and Clicks & Programmed.
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