|
Webmaster's note:
This document describes the ownership structure of the land
in Australia known as Amaroo, and the organisation that
leases it, Ivorys Rock Conference Centre. The purpose of the
document is to demonstrate one way that Maharaji benefits
financially from Elan Vital. Its intended audience is the
relevant government authorities, journalists, and anyone
else interested in learning more of the murky world of
ownership within Prem Rawat's empire. I am satisfied that
the document is accurate at the time of publication (October
2003). Please contact me on epowebmaster@yahoo.co.uk
with any corrections, questions, or additional pertinent
information.
Introduction:
This document outlines how a US-based religious leader -
Prem Pal Singh Rawat - has benefited to the tune of tens of
millions of dollars from the activities of a non-profit
association incorporated in Australia, and a similar
non-profit body in the US. The tax-free funds raised by
these bodies have apparently been transformed into Mr
Rawat's personal property assets in Australia, the US and
elsewhere. Some of these assets are owned by Myrine
Investments Ltd, incorporated in Jersey, whose beneficial
owner is believed to be Mr Rawat.
These arrangements appear to have ramifications relating to
Australian and US corporations and income tax law, and the
conditions of Mr Rawat's Australian visa.
This document has been compiled with the assistance of
serving and former senior followers of Mr Rawat, solicitors
and attorneys in the USA and Australia - and was written
subsequent to exploratory communications with corporate
regulators in Australia, the US and Jersey (Channel
Is.).
Investigations into the matters canvassed herein may have
the potential to yield successful litigation and/or
prosecutions, and to recover millions of dollars in evaded
tax revenue, via Mr Rawat's well-identified property assets
in Australia, the US and elsewhere.
Key:
Prem Pal (sometimes Prempal) Singh Rawat: Born December 10,
1957. Known publicly by the honorific "Maharaji" (formerly
"Guru Maharaj Ji"). Indian-born US citizen who is the
spiritual (not legal) head of Elan Vital worldwide, and
"master" to tens of thousands of devotees. Visits Australia
once or twice annually. Possesses both Indian and US
passports. Home address: 31334 Anacapa View Dr, Malibu CA
90265, USA.
Elan Vital: Generic name for Mr Rawat's organisation, which
has in fact been separately incorporated in dozens of
countries. (Most were named Divine Light Mission till the
early 1980s.) Many of these incorporated bodies have been
wound up in the last few years or so. The remaining Elan
Vitals are nearly devoid of assets, and have few if any
surplus funds. A list of the various Elan Vitals and other
associations of Maharaji's followers is at: www.contact-info.net/contacts.cfm
Elan Vital, Inc.: In Australia: a non-profit association
incorporated under South Australia's Associations
Incorporation Act. (Was originally named Divine Light
Mission, Inc.) Registered as a foreign company in all other
Australian states, including Queensland (ARBN 007 505 535).
Elan Vital, Inc is also the name of the parallel US body,
which states itself to be "a charitable organization". It
was incorporated in Colorado, and registered as a foreign
company in California (file no. 215914) and probably other
states. Tax basis: non-stock (non-profit.) In the UK, Elan
Vital is a Registered Charity no. 1016818. In this document,
"Elan Vital" refers to the Australian body unless otherwise
stated.
Ivory's Rock Conference Centre (IRCC): 800 hectares on
several titles at Peak Crossing, 25 kilometres south of
Ipswich, south-east Queensland, Australia. The international
meeting place for Mr Rawat and his devotees. (Also rented
out periodically to private companies for seminars, etc.)
Contains tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure and
improvements. Land value: about $AU 1 million. Present sale
value (with improvements): $AU 7-10 million.
Myrine Investments Limited: Incorporated in Jersey (Channel
Is.) in 1981, and registered since 1986 as a foreign company
in Queensland, Australia. The foreign company registration
was recently shifted to NSW. (ARBN: 010 620 603. ABN: 49 010
620 603.) Myrine owns most of the titles of Ivory's Rock
Conference Centre.
Jeeps Nominees Pty Ltd: Trust company registered in
Queensland by Elan Vital, Inc. (ACN: 068 508 298.)
Ivory's Rock Conference Centre Pty Ltd: Management company
for IRCC, owned by Jeeps Nominees - i.e. owned at armslength
by Elan Vital, Inc. (ACN: 068 618 922. ABN: 82 068 618
922.)
Of little direct relevance to this document, but mentioned
for the record, are:
The Elan Vital Foundation: Incorporated in Switzerland.
Since the late 1970s, a financial "hub" for the various
national Elan Vitals. (And their Indian equivalent, named
Divine United Organization (DUO).) The Foundation
facilitates "the co-ordination of international events and
projects" - notably the operation of Mr Rawat's succession
of private jets.
The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF): A legal entity recently
incorporated (and presently seeking tax exemption) in the
US, with the possible purpose of replacing Elan Vital.
TPRF's 5-person board is comprised of Mr Rawat's devotees.
Its president/director is Linda Pascotto. See
www.tprf.org
1. Background:
The accuracy (or otherwise) of this dossier may be
established via straightforward investigatory avenues.
Prem Pal Singh Rawat is a US-based spiritual "master" or
"guru" whose international activities are now focused
chiefly on the US and Australia. Specifically, these
activities are focused on the property in south-east
Queensland (Australia) known as Ivory's Rock Conference
Centre, which since 1992 has hosted perhaps a dozen
gatherings attended by up to 4600 of his followers, from
every continent.
These gatherings do not usually turn a large profit, though
have been known to nett $US 500,000. Smaller gatherings for
about 400 of Mr Rawat's "major donors" typically yield
several million US dollars, some of which is thought to find
its way to Mr Rawat in ways outlined herein.
Mr Rawat has considerable personal assets worldwide -
including numerous mansions, a luxury yacht, a luxury car
collection, and so on. Mr Rawat is a highly qualified pilot.
For his personal use, a Grumman Gulfstream G5 jet is "dry
leased". The G5 is the most sophisticated private jet in the
world, worth $US 40+ million. The "aircraft operators",
according to the Eurocontrol air safety and navigation
database, are "Prem Rawat/The Premier Trust".
In addition to the questionable practices outlined in this
document, Mr Rawat owns shares in several businesses owned
and/or managed by devotees, and receives regular gifts from
wealthy devotees. It is not claimed that these arrangements
are necessarily illegal.
In the US, many of Mr Rawat's assets are owned by the Seva
Corporation (registered in several states). These
include:
* His mansion in California ($US 20-25 million).
* Nine other property titles in California (value in 2000:
$US 2+ million).
* A Stemme S10-VT aircraft (value in 2000: $US 175,000).
* A G103 Twin II glider (value unknown).
* A Bell 206L helicopter (value unknown).
Mr Rawat also sails a 106-foot yacht, Serenity, which is
valued at $US 7 million, and owned by Premo Marine, Inc.
Both Seva Corporation and Premo Marine have directors who
are loyal devotees of Mr Rawat, and it is bunderstood that
their undated letters of resignation are kept in Mr. Rawat's
possession.
The funds for the purchase of some of the above assets have
been raised by Mr Rawat's non-profit organisation, Elan
Vital, as a former senior officer, Michael Donner, has
stated in the press. However the principal purpose of this
document is to outline events which are more recent and
clear-cut:
In essence, the non-profit Elan Vital, Inc. - both the
Australian and US corporations - have been utilised to
enrich Mr Rawat personally. In this document we focus
chiefly (though not exclusively) on Ivory's Rock Conference
Centre in Australia, which is the most prominent asset which
has been obtained in this manner. Fund-raising for IRCC
occurred (and occurs) in the US, the UK and elsewhere, as
well in Australia.
It is worth making four salient points from the
beginning:
1. If suspected fraud and tax evasion were to be
investigated, there is a straightforward document trail to
inspect, and there are former senior Elan Vital organisers
willing to be interviewed by both media and legal
authorities. In addition, we speculate that Elan Vital, Inc.
directors who have recently resigned in disquiet at the
arrangements outlined herein - but who are still Mr Rawat's
devotees - would yield valuable information if interviewed.
Finally, the financial records of the key corporations
involved in the questionable money transfers, with the
exception of Myrine, are publicly searchable in
Australia.
2. There are many liquidatable assets via which authorities
may recoup debt and fines. Mr Rawat's known assets are
conservatively valued at $US50 million, with the majority of
this in Australia and the US.
3. The bulk of the funds has been raised, and converted into
assets for Mr Rawat, in the last five to ten years. This
hopefully negates US statute of limitations concerns.
4. The key to proving the above arrangement lies in the
Jersey corporate registry, where the beneficial owner of
Myrine Investments is documented. We are reliably informed
that the Jersey authorities will open the registry to any
"responsible foreign authority" showing good cause.
2. Myrine Investments and the IRCC
asset:
Land value aside, Ivory's Rock Conference Centre (IRCC) has
tens of millions of dollars in improvements and
infrastructure, including miles of fibre optic cabling and a
$AU 600,000 meeting hall. Funds for all this are raised by
Australia's Elan Vital, Inc., which leases the property from
the property's owner, Myrine Investments Ltd. The US and
other Elan Vitals funnel money to their Australian
equivalent for the purpose.
Roughly $US 10 million in loans has been raised from
devotees to fund improvements to IRCC in this manner. Some
devotees have mortgaged their homes for the purpose. The
loans are not secured by the property, only by Elan Vital's
directors.
Secured commercial loans have also been taken out, though to
a much lesser degree. Thus these are "ahead in the queue" of
the devotee loans in the event of pay-out of all loans.
All the above loans should be on Elan Vital, Inc.'s publicly
searchable accounts. So should the monies raised as
donations. We have little idea how much donations might
amount to. It is perhaps reasonable to speculate that it is
also in the millions - though probably less millions than
the loans add up to.
Alvaro Pascotto, the US-based devotee lawyer who oversees
the arrangements outlined in this document, has often told
Elan Vital directors who are resigning in consternation on
discovering the true owner of Myrine, that in the event of
"financial trouble" Mr Rawat will personally support IRCC
financially. That is, that he will not allow these devotees
to lose their money. The IRCC borrowing arrangements have
tied up the borrowing power of the worldwide devotee
community. This suggests that if the repayments default and
the arrangement collapses, the only party capable of bailing
out IRCC is Mr Rawat.
Myrine's assets in Australia alone - one mansion on 5 acres
at Jesmond Road in the Brisbane suburb of Fig Tree Pocket,
and Ivory's Rock Conference Centre - are perhaps worth a
total of $AU 15 million. In addition, Myrine owns Mr Rawat's
luxury homes in England (at Reigate) and South Africa, and
his apartment in South America. Myrine also owns cash, stock
and other paper assets.
(Via Myrine and other entities, Mr Rawat beneficially owns a
mansion in Brisbane (Australia), two luxury dwellings at
IRCC (Australia), mansions at Malibu (USA), Delhi (India),
Reigate (UK), Mauritius, as well as a luxury apartment in
South America. Mansions in Rome (Italy) and rural Argentina,
and a luxury apartment in Madrid (Spain) are yet to be
confirmed.)
It is believed that Myrine Investments Ltd is secretly owned
by Mr Rawat. ("Secretly" because Jersey does not publicly
disclose beneficial owners of companies incorporated
there.)
Specifically, Elan Vital has created the public impression
that IRCC is owned by an overseas corporate entity for the
devotee community as a whole. But the Jersey-incorporated
Myrine Investments is owned by a trust which is itself
controlled by Mr Rawat.
The Jersey records of Myrine's ownership are not public -
and publicly Myrine is "owned" by various professional
company directors in Jersey (usually Jersey-resident
accountants or lawyers): so-called nominee shareholders.
(Searches with the Jersey Financial Services Commission
reveal that the two listed shareholders of Myrine
Investments Ltd are Lively Ltd (4,940,000 ordinary shares)
and Juris Ltd (60,000 ordinary shares). Both are companies
incorporated in Jersey - Lively (company no. 3719) on April
9, 1969, and Juris (company no. 24294) on August 11, 1982.
Since Myrine's incorporation on December 23, 1981, its
solicitors in Jersey have been Mourant & Co Ltd.)
The key asset under discussion in this document is Ivory's
Rock Conference Centre - which has been funded with tax-free
monies raised by Elan Vital, Inc. IRCC's ostensible purpose
is as a facility for Mr Rawat's devotees and the public at
large (and not as a private holding for Mr Rawat).
However before the days of IRCC, all Myrine's known holdings
were Mr Rawat's private homes in various countries. Myrine
still owns most of those properties - but also now owns
IRCC. It seems anomalous that a corporation created to own
the homes in which Mr Rawat lives would also own a property
which was for a wider public. It is suggested that this is
further evidence, on the face of it, that Mr Rawat is IRCC's
beneficial owner.
A way of obviating claims that Mr Rawat benefits financially
from Elan Vital would be to have IRCC owned - publicly and
transparently - by Elan Vital or some corporate offspring.
Or indeed any company but Myrine, which has long been
associated with his personal holdings.
Finally, Mr Rawat speaks publicly from time to time of IRCC
as being "his" property.
The above, whilst circumstantial, appears to provide "good
cause" for any Australian or US government agency to seek
the name of Myrine's beneficial owner from the Jersey
authorities. Before taking that step, if need be, the
information could be reinforced by interviews with serving
and recent Elan Vital organisers as to Myrine's beneficial
ownership.
Jersey is an extremely well-regulated corporate
jurisdiction, as the FBI among other authorities has
recently noted. We believe that if good cause is shown by an
appropriate foreign authority, the Jersey authorities will
disclose to it the name of a company's beneficial owner.
The Jersey Financial Services Commission's publicly
searchable records list:
MYRINE INVESTMENTS LIMITED RC 23-Dec-81 22632
("RC" = Registered Company. The date is the incorporation
date. And 22632 is Myrine's "Registered Company
Number".)
3. Myrine, IRCC and Elan Vital: the nuts and
bolts:
(i) Ownership:
Like its US and UK counterparts, Elan Vital, Inc. in
Australia owns no real property - save for one small title
of the several at IRCC. And it owns very little personal
property. But in a very transient sense, it does have
substantial assets.
Elan Vital leases IRCC from Myrine. And whilst Myrine owns
the vast majority of the IRCC land, for the moment Elan
Vital owns the buildings and other improvements thereon.
This has been done because Elan Vital, being a non-profit
association, is not required to pay company income tax on
the monies it brings in to build these improvements. (Income
tax exemption was granted to Elan Vital, Inc. in 1974.)
In other words, Elan Vital finances, and owns,
multi-million dollar improvements on land it does not
own.
Thus, if Elan Vital were dissolved, or if the Myrine-EV
lease were terminated, all the property's improvements will
revert to the property-owner, Myrine Investments,
beneficially owned by Mr Rawat. There is an agreement in
place for Mr Rawat to "pay for" the improvements in that
eventuality, but it is not known to what extent the
arrangement would prove equitable for all parties, most
notably IRCC's donors.
This situation takes on some immediacy in light of the fact
that Elan Vital, Inc. (in Australia), is presently
insolvent. It is also very much a possibility that IRCC will
have to be sold in the next year or so. Finally, many more
devotee lenders than usual are presently requesting the
refund of their monies from IRCC.
Even assuming Elan Vital survives, anyone who knows Mr
Rawat's relationship with his devotees will be aware that if
he instructs that the Elan Vital-Myrine lease agreement over
IRCC be terminated, it will be terminated.
IRCC's apparent secret arms length ownership by Mr Rawat is
interesting in light of a long-standing Elan Vital claim.
The website of Elan Vital, Inc in the USA -
www.elanvital.org/about.html - echoes the legal requirements
of non-profit bodies the world over:
"Maharaji [Mr. Rawat] receives no compensation from
Elan Vital."
The President of Elan Vital, Inc. in the US, Linda Gross,
states on the website:
"Elan Vital is separate from Maharaji. Its purpose is to
promote his teachings, but he is not an officer, director or
employee of the organization."
Linda Gross may have omitted the most important legal term
of all here: "beneficiary".
If Mr Rawat's company, Myrine, owns the various titles to
the IRCC property (except for the one small title owned by
Elan Vital), can he be said to be "separate" from Elan
Vital? Elan Vital, Inc. - which is a non-profit association
under South Australian law - has raised tens of millions of
tax-free dollars to develop IRCC.
Inspection of Myrine's non-public file in Jersey will reveal
that those tens of millions have been effectively
transformed into the asset of single individual. Given the
terms of South Australia's Associations Incorporation Act
(under which Elan Vital is incorporated), Australian
taxation legislation, and Elan Vital's own constitution,
this may be of dubious legality. Parallel observations could
presumably be made of the US and UK jurisdictions.
In a nutshell, the above information suggests three
things:
1. The IRCC property has been secretly procured for a
private individual with tax-free funds, via a non-profit
association.
2. The rents paid by the non-profit Elan Vital to the
Rawat-owned Myrine, under the terms of their lease
agreement, also accrue to that individual.
3. The improvements to the property, funded by Elan Vital
and owned by Elan Vital at present, revert to the
Rawat-owned Myrine Investments if Elan Vital is wound up, or
when the Myrine-Elan Vital lease terminates. It is not known
how equitable this settlement will prove to be.
The improvements to IRCC include a $600,000 meeting hall;
miles of underground fibre optic cabling, phone lines,
electricity and water; miles of sealed roads; a dining hall
with kitchen facilities; manicured campgrounds for 2500,
including power and modern bathroom blocks; a sewerage
system sufficient for a large town; a "pavilion" shopping
and recreation area; an office complex; a construction
office hub; an onsite computer network; warehouses and
workshops; a tiered outdoor amphitheatre for 4500, with a
permanent stage, including a backstage area for Mr Rawat
which has been described as "like a two-storey luxury home";
Mr Rawat's hilltop home or "lodge"; Mr Rawat's "campground"
- three separate luxury buildings; a partly-built fine
dining restaurant; dams, fencing, vehicles, construction
equipment, and much more. IRCC has paid for town water and a
council road to be brought from to the property from several
kilometres away.
Though Ivory's Rock Conference Centre may not bring more
than $A10 million if liquidated, the property has been
considerably over-capitalised. The total of the investment
there is in the tens of millions - and higher again if 11
years of (mostly free) labour by devotees is factored in.
The land value of the 800 hectares is on top of that.
(ii) The lease:
Regarding Elan Vital's lease agreement over the IRCC
property with Myrine: although this formally expires after
30 years, it may be terminated at any time with the consent
of both parties.
As an indication of how flexible the Myrine-Elan Vital lease
is, it began as 3+3+3 years, then was changed to 6+6+6.
Then, roughly three years ago, it was changed to 30
years.
Because of the ease with which he could order the lease
terminated - or for that matter the property sold - and
because most loans to the property are unsecured, Mr Rawat,
were he so inclined, could apparently walk away with the
proceeds of the sale of the IRCC asset at relatively short
notice.
(iii) Management and Funding:
The management arrangements for the property are another
kettle of fish again. The Australian Elan Vital, Inc. owns
Jeeps Nominees Pty Ltd, a trust company registered in
Brisbane. Jeeps, in turn, owns Ivory's Rock Conference
Centre Pty Ltd, which is the company which manages the
property.
IRCC markets itself as a commercial conference centre, and
officially Elan Vital is just a client. (It is contractually
acknowledged as IRCC's "principal" client.) In reality the
relationship is much closer: there have been duplications of
both directors and management personnel. And of course Elan
Vital secretly owns IRCC's management company, via Jeeps.
Directors of all three companies alike do Mr Rawat's bidding
without question.
Elan Vital, Inc., raises loans and donations worldwide, and
transfers them into an Elan Vital "International Account" -
at the National Bank, St Marys, Queensland. This account is
administered by IRCC Pty Ltd. With this account, IRCC Pty
Ltd develops IRCC.
4. Summary:
The above arrangements:
1. Hide the fact that Elan Vital funnels millions of dollars
into IRCC.
2. Hide the fact that IRCC is developed with tax-free funds
from a non-profit association - but is beneficially owned by
a private individual.
3. Mean that, while the IRCC asset itself goes to Mr Rawat,
responsibility for raising the loans to create that asset -
currently believed to stand at over $US10 million in total -
and for raising the donations, and the actual work of
development, go to Elan Vital and Mr Rawat's devotees.
Let's pause for breath here and recap. Here is a brief
summary of IRCC's management and ownership:
(a) The management: IRCC is managed and developed by Ivory's
Rock Conference Centre Pty Ltd, using funds raised by its
secret, "arms length" corporate parent, Elan Vital, Inc.
(b) The land: Via a trust, Mr Rawat owns Myrine Investments,
which owns most of the titles to Ivory's Rock Conference
Centre. IRCC is leased by Myrine to Elan Vital, Inc.
(c) The buildings and other improvements: These are owned by
Elan Vital, Inc. But when Elan Vital's lease over IRCC
expires, they devolve to Myrine, which is owned by Mr Rawat.
An agreement is in place for Mr Rawat to refund the value of
the improvements in the event of the sale of IRCC, though it
is presently unclear who determines their value.
5. Possible ramifications:
(i) Under the South Australian Associations Incorporation
Act, directors of a hypothetical association who conceal or
facilitate the association being used to benefit a private
individual are liable to a range of penalties - for instance
a $5000 fine or one year's jail (section 55: private
benefit) or $10,000 or two years' jail (section 49AF:
fraud).
There is no specific provision under the Act to prosecute
the beneficiaries of fraud, etc who are not directors.
However our legal advice is that other legislation, and
common law, suggest that a beneficiary of "associations
fraud" and like offences could be prosecuted:
1. As a conspirator to the crimes.
2. As an accessory before or after the fact.
3. For aiding and abetting the crimes.
4. For suborning perjury, if directors of the association
have signed false declarations or returns at his behest.
(ii) The Australian and US tax evasion ramifications here
are abundant and self-evident.
(iii) In response to questions regarding a hypothetical
Jersey-incorporated company which may be being used to evade
taxes and breach company law in other jurisdictions, the
Attorney General of Jersey, Mr William Bailhache,
states:
1. "For the purposes of using the powers conferred on the
Attorney General under the Investigation of Fraud (Jersey)
Law, 1991, I do not regard the fact that the victim might be
a foreign tax authority to be a reason not to give
assistance" to that authority. "We do not in Jersey have the
same narrow definition of 'tax fraud' as may be applied in
some other jurisdictions."
2. "One of the objectives we seek to achieve in this
Department is the giving of effective assistance within
reasonable timescales to overseas judicial and law
enforcement agencies in criminal matters."
The Authorisation Director of the Jersey Financial Services
Commission, Mr Roger Bignell, confirms that the FSC is
"fully committed to co-operating with other law enforcement
agencies and we can supply information" such as beneficial
owners when authorised by the Attorney General.
Under Jersey law, no court order is required for the
Attorney General to assist foreign authorities. An
investigation by a foreign authority with appropriate
statutory power, showing good cause, would be sufficient
grounds at law for the disclosure of the beneficial owner of
a Jersey company.
The Attorney General can also require Jersey-incorporated
companies to produce accounts, and is empowered to provide
these to foreign authorities.
All the above powers are exercisable in a case where the
Attorney General believes there is a suspected offence
involving serious or complex fraud, wherever in the world it
may have been committed.
The Jersey Law Officers' Report of 2001 reveals that 120
"requests for assistance" on Jersey-incorporated companies
were received from foreign judicial and law enforcement
authorities. Most involved the divulging of names of
beneficial owners to foreign authorities. All such requests
were met, bar two which lapsed on technicalities. The vast
majority were fraud-related.
It is notable, given that Myrine is owned by Mr Rawat via a
trust, that Jersey (unlike many jurisdictions) regulates
trusts with the same stringency as it regulates other
corporate entities.
(iv) Re Mr Rawat's Australian immigration status: Presently
Mr Rawat enters the country on a visa which allows him to
talk at meetings - such as those at IRCC - but not earn
income. However large sums are often raised for IRCC's
development at the meetings he speaks at. Indeed some such
meetings - the "major donors" gatherings - are held entirely
for the purpose of fund-raising for IRCC.
As Mr Rawat is IRCC's beneficial owner, this raises the
question of whether he may be in breach of his visa
conditions: essentially, it appears he is raising funds
which will be converted into his asset.
A more clear-cut breach of visa conditions may lie in Mr
Rawat's receiving cash (typically $A1-2000 daily) for living
expenses from the Myrine Investments "till" during large
programs at IRCC.
6. Some investigative avenues:
(i) The accounts of all the Australian-registered companies
associated with Mr Rawat should be available through CABA in
South Australia, and ASIC.
(ii) The Jersey register of Myrine Investments Ltd could be
inspected in the manner outlined herein.
(iii) The accounts of Rawat-associated companies in the US,
as well as Mr Rawat's tax returns, are searchable by US
authorities.
(iv) Mr Rawat's property assets in Australia, the US and
elsewhere can be identified (and valued) from the "roadmap"
this document provides, and confirmed via the relevant
searches of publicly available company and land title
documents.
(v) Matters such as the above, as well as a subject's
immigration status, are increasingly the subject of
multi-agency co-operation within the US and Australia, and
of co-operation between the agencies of both countries.
(vi) One might need to establish that Mr Rawat was
volitionally involved in the arrangements detailed herein.
That he, for example, ordered the creation of Myrine, or
that he ordered the construction of specific buildings or
infrastructure at IRCC. This may be done via interviewing
ex-devotees. Some could comfortably state that Mr Rawat said
the IRCC property was "his". Others within Elan Vital could
be persuaded to tell the truth regarding specific assets.
(For example, everyone at IRCC is aware that Mr Rawat
ordered the construction of the meeting hall and most other
major improvements.)
Some specifics re the US:
Mr Rawat may have annually filed Form 3520-A, Annual
Information Return of Foreign Trusts With U.S. Owner, as
required by law. If so, this should afford information on
Myrine's financial status, even before going to Jersey.
A US taxpayer must also file U.S. Treasury Form TD F
90-22.1, Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report, if he
has an interest of over $10,000 in foreign bank accounts,
securities, and the like. As Myrine owns an unknown value in
cash, stocks and other paper assets, these forms - if they
have been filed - may yield salient information.
US taxpayers may also be required to to acknowledge an
interest in a foreign bank account, security account or
foreign trust on Schedule B, Interest and Dividend Income
which is attached to Form 1040.
There is no evidence that Mr Rawat "layers" his foreign
trusts or companies, which would mean a relatively
straightforward paper trail.
7. Afterthoughts:
Mr Rawat's connection to Myrine has perhaps been Elan
Vital's most closely guarded secret. Ordinary devotees know
nothing of it, and neither do many senior organisers. Even
most members of Elan Vital's international legal team have
not seen the relevant documentation. Possibly the only
devotee who has seen it is Alvaro Pascotto, Mr Rawat's chief
lawyer, resident in the US.
As stated earlier, some directors of Elan Vital, Inc. have
become aware of the Myrine "arrangement" - and of their own
legal exposure because of it. This has resulted in them
resigning their directorships. Australian Securities and
Investment Commission searches reveal that there is
presently "movement on the registers" of the relevant
companies:
For instance there have been recent changes to particulars
of the office-holders of Myrine Investments Ltd (8/3/02),
Jeeps Nominees Pty Ltd (13/1/02), Elan Vital, Inc. (14/2/02
and 13/5/02) and Ivory's Rock Conference Centre Pty Ltd
(3/12/01, 14/2/02 and 13/5/02).
We do not presume to recommend what action, if any, should
be taken in these matters. But for what it is worth, we
believe that Mr Rawat's devotees are the innocent dupes in
all of this.
No devotee, to our knowledge, has benefited financially from
the arrangements described herein. Elan Vital board members
are not paid, and neither are Mr Rawat's lawyers and most of
the other staff drawn from his devotees. (Elan Vital in the
US has one paid employee.) Of the hundreds of Australian and
foreign devotees who work at IRCC in any given year, the
vast majority work for nothing (living on savings or
unemployment benefits), and even those few who are paid
receive barely enough to live on - typically three of four
hundred Australian dollars a week.
If any investigation were to be conducted into the matters
outlined herein, in our opinion now is an opportune time to
conduct it. IRCC's neighbours are up in arms, Elan Vital is
financially weakened, negative TV and newspaper exposure in
Australia and elsewhere has been considerable, and devotees
are leaving in some numbers. All this will afford weak
resistance, a greater likelihood of informants "rolling
over", and a hinterland of public support.
Given these difficult circumstances, it is conceivable that
in the next year IRCC will be put on the market.
Additionally, in light of The Brisbane Courier Mail's recent
oblique allusions to Mr Rawat's "tax haven" arrangements, it
is possible that further legal smokescreens will be put in
place to make discovery of the arrangements outlined in this
document more difficult.
But we suggest that the target of any action should be Mr
Rawat, who ordered the construction of the scenario outlined
herein, and who is its sole
beneficiary.
For more information regarding
Amaroo
and Prem Rawat's assets, see
also:
Who Owns What
Around Maharaji - The Jet, the
Residences, the Yacht etc
|
