Three Northern Territory residents have been arrested and charged with fraud, and one of them also with corruption over an alleged multi-million-dollar Defence contract scheme. Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigators raided homes and businesses across Darwin on Friday after receiving a tip-off from the Department of Defence about the alleged crime. The AFP alleges a 48-year-old Commonwealth Defence employee, his 40-year-old wife, and a 41-year-old male director of a local construction firm had conspired to channel nearly $71 million of Defence building contracts to their own company. During the raids, investigators seized $30,000 in cash, documents, electronic devices, jewellery and a small quantity of illicit drugs, which the AFP suspects is cocaine. In a statement, the AFP alleged that the group “were involved in a conspiracy to influence the awarding of tenders to their company, with the intention of dishonestly gaining a benefit from the Commonwealth, namely the Department of Defence”. By Felicity James for ABC News Northern Territory.
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