Nearly 200 Australian day care centres are SHUT DOWN by police after links to large-scale fraud - are you affected?
So shocking...
By Frances Sheen
June 03 2019
Nearly 200 day care centres have been shut down as police investigate links to motorcycle gangs, the Islamic State, and large-scale fraud.
Police shut 188 private facilities in NSW, particularly in south-west Sydney, with 49 being shut in the Canterbury-Bankstown region, another 25 in Liverpool, 23 in Fairfield and 17 in Auburn.
In one case, the director of the supposed day care centre was intercepted at Sydney airport, believed to be on his way to fight for the Islamic State.
Hussain Dandachi, 28, was arrested in relation to a police investigation into a $27 million fraud syndicate and the funnelling of funds into Islamic State. He pleaded guilty to supplying fake invoices worth more than $100,000 for children who were not in his care, and was sentenced to a minimum jail term of 10 months.
The closures have seen the number of NSW Family Day Care services slashed by more than half since 2016, from 420 to 197.
Alee Farmann was charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group - in the form of his alleged Red Roses Day Care scam, which pocketed government subsidies
As a direct result of investigation, the federal government is expected to save more than $674 million annually.
They will avoid paying out on fraudulent applications for children who were not even students at the facilities applying for funding.
Last month, coordinated raids throughout the south-west led to the arrest of more than 20 people believed to be involved in running or facilitating fraudulent day care centres.
In a bid to stop this from happening again, the NSW government is now following Queensland by ensuring all applicants who want to run a home daycare are required to pass a mandatory face-to-face interview.
