Tax Commissioner can use illegally-obtained information

In Denlay v Commissioner of Taxation [2011] FCAFC 63, the Full Federal Court confirmed the commissioner was not in breach of section 400.9 of the Criminal Code 1995 (‘being in the receipt of stolen property’ as it then applied) in relation to raising assessments against the taxpayer and his wife, based on information that had been stolen from a Liechtenstein bank by a former employee, in breach of secrecy laws in Liechtenstein.