Simon Hannes was convicted of offences under the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 relating to the way he had split cash transactions at multiple bank branches to stay under the AUSTRAC reporting threshold of $10,000.
11 Facts About Simon Hannes
1.
2.
Simon Hannes was an executive director of MCF, but not in the team, and so did not know directly of the proposed transaction.
3.
From 1 August 1996, Simon Hannes took permanent leave from the bank, but kept keys to the MCF offices, since he would still be doing work for at least one client.
4.
The prosecution alleged Simon Hannes learnt from project Tennis was that KPN wasn't interested in TNT's shares in Air New Zealand, and that the prospect of a takeover would be greatly increased if TNT could sell them.
5.
On 4 September 1996, Simon Hannes transferred $200,000 from his Leveraged Equities account at stock broker Ord Minnett to a bank account in his name at the Commonwealth Bank.
6.
On 6 September 1996, Simon Hannes withdrew cash of $10,000, $10,000 and $20,000 from his CBA account, each withdrawal at a different branch.
7.
On 9 September 1996, Simon Hannes made further cash withdrawals from his CBA account, this time $9,900, $6000, and four of $9,000, again each from a different branch.
8.
Simon Hannes phoned Staehli to give him that number, and Staehli advised the options had been bought and $1,500 remained in the account.
9.
Simon Hannes indicated that he was due to meet his English friend in London to clarify the situation, however he could not find him.
10.
Simon Hannes set a recognisance release period of 18 months.
11.
On 13 May 2008, Simon Hannes won an uncommon second hearing in the High Court, to make an argument for special leave to appeal.