While having already promised to clean up its act following thousands of breaches, Perth Mint has so far continued to break money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, a powerful parliamentary inquiry has been told.
Senator Linda Reynolds has also accused Gold Corporation executives of stonewalling the committee set up to scrutinise its failings, which have included selling tainted gold to China.
"This is the most extraordinary attempt I've seen to attempt not to answer our questions and in fact, quite frankly, to be too smart by half," a clearly frustrated Senator Reynolds told a hearing in Canberra on Friday.
The committee heard the corporation, owned by Western Australia's government, remained in breach of the Commonwealth's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act.
"We would have concerns that there is ongoing non-compliance," Bradley Brown, national manager of regulatory operations at the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), said under questioning.
The agency accepted an enforceable undertaking from the mint late last year to improve its compliance following an audit triggered by concerns gold had been sold to a former bikie.
It avoided financial penalties and was given until April 2025 to clean up its act, with regular checks to prove it is making progress with the overhaul.
Mr Brown told the senators the mint was co-operating with the financial regulator "in a manner seeking to uplift the processes and remediate the concerns that AUSTRAC has spelled out to them".
"They have followed what they required to do under the enforceable undertaking to date," he said.
"But there still, to use a phrase, plenty of water to flow under the bridge through till April 2025."
Asked if there was "still (a) risk of financial penalties being imposed on WA taxpayers if the matter proceeds to court" over the mint's ongoing non-compliance with the law, AUSTRAC's national manager for legal and enforcement, Timothy Lear, said it was unlikely if it was complying with the undertaking but possible.
"While an entity is uplifting or remediating its AML and CTF program, there is an ongoing risk of non-compliance with (the Act)," he said.
The inquiry heard the mint was guilty of 3322 breaches of the Act, with each carrying a potential penalty of $21 million that Ms Reynolds said could cost taxpayers $69 billion if it fails to reform its compliance regime.
