Taxman chases Australia's Crocodile Dundee

Jul 4, 2008, 3:37 GMT

Sydney - Millionaire actor-director Paul Hogan, the former Sydney Harbour Bridge scaffolder behind the 1970s hit comedy Crocodile Dundee, is being pursued by Australian officials investigating tax evasion using private trusts and offshore tax havens.

The Australian newspaper reported Friday that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) had enlisted the help of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to get hold of Hogan's US bank account documents.

Two years ago Hogan sold his Australian properties and moved permanently to California, where he lives with wife and Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski, a US citizen.

In 2006, when the ATO began its investigation into Hogan's financial affairs, it was reported that tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments from the Crocodile Dundee films were routed through complex offshore tax structures in Chile and the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean.

A spokesman for Hogan at the time said US financial advisers to the one-time prizefighter may not have understood Australia's 'complex and changing tax laws' and that any failure to pay tax on income was an oversight rather than a deliberate act.

Crocodile Dundee, which earned 350 million US dollars at the box office, remains Australia's most successful film.

Hogan's Australian lawyer, David Rydon, told The Australian that the actor regarded the ATO's actions as an unlawful attempt to obtain irrelevant material.

'Mr Hogan is in the invidious position of not being able to publicly comment on any issues because of legislative constraints which may or may not prohibit him from public disclosure,' Rydon told the paper.