AUSTRALIA - Police link Surfers Paradise nightclub plan to bikie money laundering

BY: Josh Robertson
Source: couriermail.com.au

OFF THE WIRE

Source: The Courier-Mail

PLANS for a multimillion-dollar Surfers Paradise nightclub have been crushed after police warned the landlord the venture was a front for bikies trying to launder cash.

The unlikely frontman for the deal, which police intelligence has linked to notorious outlaw motorcycle club the Bandidos, was a Bond University law graduate in his 20s.
The man, whose identity is known to The Courier-Mail, said his company had planned to spend $2 million revamping the site of the former The Drink nightclub, on Orchid Ave, with backing from a Sydney-based financier.

Don't miss Part 3 of this special investigation in Tuesday's print edition of The Courier-Mail

But the bid to lease the venue fell over last month after the landlord received a secret briefing from the police bikie squad, Hydra.
The man and his financier gave the landlord signed statutory declarations that they had no links to organised crime but could not save the deal. Both men continue to deny that their venture had any links to bikies.

The financier, who has family and financial ties to a well-known franchise chain, said: "I've nothing to do with bikies and I can't afford to be involved with them because we're a family business that's very big."
A source close to the deal confirmed the Hydra squad had tipped off the landlord.

Read more reports of this special investigation in Monday's print edition of The Courier-Mail [and explore the Bikie Inc. web of intrigue diagrams by clicking here, or the detailed club profiles below.]