McManus pleads guilty to “perverting justice” over cash in suitcase

Concert promoter and one time Divinyls manager Andrew McManus plead guilty in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court to perverting the course of justice by lying to police.

The plea was entered by prominent Melbourne barrister Peter Morrissey, SC. McManus will return to court on Friday where the judge will determine when the sentencing date will be. The charge holds a maximum sentence of 14 years’ jail.

The issue was over a black suitcase containing $702,000 in cash which police seized from Room 3026 in the Sydney Hilton in 2011.

The 55-year-old was one of five arrested in Australia over the cash. McManus was apprehended at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport as he returned from New Zealand. The others, including Craig Haeusler, his former lawyer Michael Croke and restaurant and Rolls Royce hire car firm owner Zeki Atilgan, were seized in Sydney.

US businessman Owen Hanson Junior was arrested in San Diego, California. Hanson’s business partner, former cage fighter turned personal trainer Sean Carolan, was found in the Hilton room with the suitcase, following an anonymous tip he had a gun. The alleged gun was never found.

When NSW police questioned McManus in April 2012, he told them, “It’s not the proceeds of crime, it’s the proceeds of Andrew McManus. It’s pretty obvious though. I gave someone 700 large, and you’ve found someone with 700 large. It’s my 700 large.”

He said the money was part of a business deal. But due to issues with the Australian Tax Office, he informed police, he had asked Hanson, “a very good friend of a friend”, to pay US$700,000 to book a ZZ tour. He later decided to get the money back to fund a Lenny Kravitz tour.

Police testimony claimed he also said he used 20 roadies to sneak money into the country from New Zealand. McManus later revealed he had been interviewed at a low emotional time in his life when he was taking medication.

Previous charges of knowingly participating in a criminal group and attempting to gain a financial advantage by deception by claiming the cash was his were dropped. McManus had always insisted he had nothing to do with a police investigation of alleged money laundering by a US drug cartel, as some media reports had indicated.

Last year, police had opposed a request from McManus’ legal team to get his passport back so he could travel with Kiss to New Zealand, which his company One World Entertainment was touring. Prosecutors said McManus, whom they said was cashed-up, was a flight risk. But the court sided with the promoter and let him temporarily leave the country.