Ansari v The Queen

The case of *Ansari v The Queen* concerned appeals by the appellants against their convictions for two counts of conspiring to commit a money laundering offence. The convictions arose from their involvement as directors of a money exchange business where they received large sums of cash, which were then deposited in amounts below $10,000 into various bank accounts. The appeals were heard by the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issues before the High Court were whether it was legally permissible under the *Criminal Code* (Cth) to charge a conspiracy to commit an offence where the fault element of that offence was recklessness, and whether the physical and fault elements of the offence of conspiracy had been correctly characterised by the Court of Criminal Appeal. The appellants argued that a charge of conspiracy to commit an offence with a recklessness fault element was "bad in law".

The High Court, in its joint reasons with a related case, *R v LK*, determined that the charges laid against the appellants did disclose offences. The Court found that the characterisation of the physical and fault elements of the conspiracy offence under the *Criminal Code* by the Court of Criminal Appeal was correct. Consequently, the appellants' grounds of appeal failed.

In each matter, the appeal is dismissed.