Australian Crime Commission v Wallace and Anor

The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) sought to obtain financial records from Mr Wallace and his company, Wallace Holdings Pty Ltd, pursuant to a notice issued under s 30(1) of the *Australian Crime Commission Act 2002* (Cth). The ACC's stated purpose for seeking these records was to assist in an investigation into alleged money laundering offences. Mr Wallace and Wallace Holdings challenged the validity of the notice, arguing that the ACC had not genuinely formed the belief required by s 30(1) that the records were likely to be of assistance to an investigation. The matter proceeded to the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the ACC had satisfied the preconditions for issuing a notice under s 30(1) of the *Australian Crime Commission Act 2002* (Cth). Specifically, the court had to determine whether the ACC had genuinely formed the belief that the financial records sought were likely to be of assistance to an investigation into an offence. This involved an examination of the nature of the belief required by the legislation and the evidence presented by the ACC to demonstrate that such a belief had been formed.

In their joint judgment, Hayne and Crennan JJ held that the ACC had failed to establish that it had genuinely formed the belief required by s 30(1). Their Honours emphasised that the belief must be one that is objectively capable of being held by a reasonable person in the ACC's position, based on the information available to it. The court found that the evidence before it did not demonstrate that the ACC had properly considered the information it possessed or that its belief was reasonably open to it. Consequently, the notice issued under s 30(1) was found to be invalid. The High Court ordered that the appeal be dismissed.