Australian federal police have raided the offices of the company owned by the buyer of Britishvolt.

Britishvolt was once hoped to be the UK’s chance of entering the global EV battery market. It planned to build a US$4bn plant near Blyth, Northumberland.

It entered administration early this year and was bought by Australian entrepreneur David Collard.

Collard owns Scale Facilitation, a New-York based investment fund. Its subsidiary Recharge Industries bought Britishvolt this year after its collapse.

Police officers entered Scale Facilitation’s North Geelong offices over alleged tax fraud.

Sources reportedly said the raid was due to a “misunderstanding” of the interaction between US and Australian tax filings.  

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In a statement, Scale Facilitation said: “We have and will continue to fully cooperate with the Australian Taxation Office and now the AFP. We deny any wrongdoing.”

The search is a joint effort with Australia’s Serious Crime Taskforce.

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