Hales empire crumbling?

On Tuesday 19th March 2024, the Australian Tax Office (ATO), embarked on an unannounced raid on the global epicentre of the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren. The ATO were searching for evidence of misuse of fund by wealthy brethren individuals. The raid was conducted at the “Precinct,” the Sydney address of UBT, OneSchool Global, Rapid Relief Team, Campus & Co, Coshield Global and Vision Accelerator PTY Ltd.

UBT with a global turnover of circa £250 million, is the central buying group at the centre of the brethren business empire, providing buying services, IT, consultancy, training, fleet services and accountancy for brethren member businesses. OneSchool Global is the brethren schools, Campus & Co is the brethren retail shops, Rapid Relief Team is the brethren charity that provides catering to the emergency services at incident across the globe. The Vision Accelerator Pty Ltd is the central brethren investment fund that invests in brethren companies.
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In the UK, a remarkably similar set up can be found at the “Precinct,” the Leamington Spa address of UBT, OneSchool Global, Campus & Co, National Assistance Fund, Coshield Global and Vision Investment Fund LP. These businesses and charities link to the ones in Sydney that the ATO have raided. UBT turnover in the UK is circa £100 million per annum. 

Flowchart of how UBT operates

​The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) is a closed organisation led by Sydney based accountant and businessperson Bruce Hales. The brethren preach a “hatred” for people outside the church. Women are treated as second-class citizens and homosexuality is not tolerated.
Hales preaches that his flock should “charge the highest price to the worldly people” – including governments and other businesses – in a doctrine known as “spoiling the Egyptians.” In 2002 he preached: “the world is there for our using up of it … the world is there to take what we want from it and leave everything we do not want. Spoil the Egyptians as quick and as fast as you can,” he said.

​During the raid, The Age, and the Sydney Morning Herald report that investigators have confiscated documents, computers, phones, and other material.
The ATO declined to comment on the raid, saying it could not discuss details of the tax affairs of any individual or entity.

ATO documentation confirms it conducts access without prior notice raids “only in exceptional circumstances including suspected tax evasion, fraud, secrecy or concealment, and where we have a reasonable belief that documents may be disposed of, altered or destroyed”. The Age has also learned that businesses in Goulburn, Sydney whose owners run the Brethren’s public-facing charity, the Rapid Relief Team, were also raided by the tax office on Tuesday.

Ex members of the brethren believe the tax office investigation was examining what the church calls its “ecosystem” – a complex web of interwoven businesses and tax-free entities including charities and schools. The sources cannot be identified because they fear retribution against their families who are still inside the sect.

In our previous research we discovered that 'The Trustee for the Vision Foundation' is one of the charities operating from the precinct. Their last reported accounts for 2022 can be found on  the Australian Charities and not-for-profits commission website. It is interesting that the auditor of these accounts was Kevin N Dunlop of KDA Group Audits PTY Ltd.  Dunlop is a trustee of PBCC Services Pty Ltd, another  brethren charity based at the precinct. It is also somewhat alarming that the email contact address for 'The Trustee for the Vision Foundation' is  the PBCC services email! This would appear to be a potential conflict of interests. A final note to take is that PBCC services are funded directly via a loan from the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

​In our previous research we have highlighted how companies ran by Plymouth Brethren Christian Church members were awarded over £2.6 billion of Covid contracts by the UK government for PPE & Covid Tests. These contracts predominantly link back to the Hales family in Sydney. A number of ex members have informed Open & Candid that the Covid contracts were co-ordinated by UBT in Sydney.
 
It will be of interest to see if any raids are conducted in other global locations. Watch this space!