The 50-year-old used contractors, fake invoices and off-shore Caribbean and Hong Kong bank accounts, the civil suit said; in the filing, colleagues claimed he bought a 50-ft catamaran worth $1 million and a Mercedes at the time.
After freezing his assets, Anglo officials filed another claim in Brisbane Supreme Court asserting Tonkin’s used expansion at Chile’s $2.8 billion Las Bronces mine between 2009 and 2011 to cover a further $5.3 million scheme.
Contractors unwittingly passed consulting fees from Tonkin to Anglo American projects, which he would then approve. No equipment or services were rendered, the allegations said, but amid billions in project costs, the $9.8 million was not missed.
