A high profile New Zealand businessman has been caught up in multi-million dollar tax fraud and money laundering allegations in Australia.

Mark Bryers was one of 12 people arrested by Australia’s Federal Police, after a joint agency investigation was carried out in New South Wales and Queensland.

A police spokesman says search warrants were executed at 10 locations “in a coordinated strike against a transnational and serious organised criminal syndicate using labour hire and payroll companies associated with the building and construction industry to defraud the Commonwealth”.

The fraud is reported to total $17 million dollars. It’s alleged Bryers was providing tax structuring advice to the syndicate.

Bryers is best known for the collapse of his Blue Chip company in 2008, which owed investors $84 million. He was banned from operating a company in New Zealand until 2022.