SA News Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The offices of a millionaire South Australian entrepreneur have been raided by agents from the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Taxation Office.
Lighting company Vailo, whose founder and chief executive Aaron Hickmann is embroiled in an ongoing dispute with taxation authorities, had its SA and Queensland offices searched on Wednesday afternoon. The raids come a week before the Vailo Adelaide 500 supercars race, for which the company is a chief sponsor. VAILO founder and Chief Executive Aaron Hickmann is embroiled in an ongoing dispute with taxation authorities and had SA and Queensland offices searched on Wednesday afternoon.
It is unclear why the offices were raided, or if any items were seized, and Mr Hickmann, a father of two, did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement on Wednesday night, his Adelaide-based lawyer Greg Griffin said: “There is a matter with the ATO, with an objection. It is not related to Vailo.
Aaron Hickmann has been compliant.” He declined to comment further or provide any additional details. The Advertiser revealed in June that Mr Hickmann was being investigated for a potential company director ban over his role in a failed medicinal cannabis venture.
In June, the state government slapped a legal caveat restriction on two of Mr Hickmann’s properties, including a luxury $4.6m home at Glenelg South and a $345,000 Holdfast Bay.