Former St Ouen parishioner Philip Jepson Egglishaw has walked from an Italian jail where he had been held for two months after being arrested on Australia’s request. A judge in Milan reportedly ruled that prosecutors had run out of time to charge him with fraud and money laundering.
His release is a major blow for the Australian Taxation Office which has, for 13 years, led an inquiry into the former Hautlieu student codenamed Operation Wickenby.
The 63-year-old used to live at a property called Cherry Trees on Rue de la Mare, St Ouen, near St Ouen’s football pitch, and was involved with finance firm Strachan’s that used to be based in St Helier. Cherry Trees is no longer owned by Mr Egglishaw.
Mr Egglishaw is accused of masterminding a $2.2 billion international tax avoidance scheme in Australia which ensnared Paul Hogan, who played Crocodile Dundee in the 1980s blockbuster movie of the same name.
A total of 46 people have been convicted in connection with the tax avoidance scheme including music promoter Glenn Wheatley who was jailed. Mr Egglishaw left Australia in 2004 after police raided his luxury hotel room in Melbourne.
Australian authorities have tried, unsuccessfully, to extradite the former Islander back to the country to answer for his alleged crimes.
Representing Mr Egglishaw during his fight against extradition was lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, a former member of the Italian Parliament, who represented Raffaele Sollecito, the co-defendant and former boyfriend of Amanda Knox.
In May Mr Egglishaw was arrested near Lake Como, northern Italy, after he and his partner Sheila Jordan, who he reportedly met in Jersey, checked into Villa d’Este, described as one of Italy’s finest hotels. A red Interpol notice was triggered after his passport details, which he gave to reception staff, were loaded onto a police database as part of standard check-in procedure.
The News Corp Australian Network is reporting that Mr Egglishaw is due to return to his multi-million-dollar villa at La Colle-sur-Loup, a picturesque village about 30 minutes from Nice on the French Riviera.
Writing from the village where Mr Egglishaw reportedly lives, journalist Ellen Whinnett wrote: ‘The villa, behind high gates on a back road near the historic village of Saint Paul-de-Vence, features a swimming pool, tennis court, manicured grounds tended by two full-time gardeners and room to park his collection of cars, including a Bentley, a Lamborghini, a black Mercedes and an Audi sports car driven by his partner, Sheila Jordan, 52.’
