Two high-profile Canberra solicitors will be allowed to continue practising law, with some restrictions, as they dispute allegations they are "professional facilitators" of organised crime.
Aulich law firm partners Ben Aulich, 47, and Bridie Harders, 35, are accused alongside 54-year-old Kingston accountant Michael Papandrea of offences including conspiracy to deal in more than $100,000 of criminal funds.
The ACT Magistrates Court heard on Thursday morning that the trio allegedly conspired with a fourth person, known to them as Alex Torosian.
That person's role in the alleged offending is unknown, but they have not been charged and the wording of allegations put to Mr Aulich and Mrs Harders in court suggest the name is an alias.
All three of the accused are set to fight charges laid in the wake of their dramatic arrests and release on police bail last Wednesday.
Announcing the busts after a sensitive eight-month investigation, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller described the trio as "professional facilitators" of organised crime.
The senior officer said police would allege the accused had been involved in a scheme to buy a business and launder "large quantities" of tainted cash through it.
Mr Aulich on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy to deal in proceeds of crime charge, as well as an allegation that he recruited Mr Papandrea to engage in criminal activity between May 8 and the date of his arrest.
Mrs Harders also pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge.
Money laundering charges laid against both lawyers were formally withdrawn. The prosecution foreshadowed earlier this week that similar replacement charges would be proffered, but it is unclear whether that remains the case.
Mr Papandrea was not required in court on Thursday, but he has previously pleaded not guilty to recruiting another person to engage in criminal activity. He has not yet entered pleas to money laundering and proceeds of crime charges.
It was revealed during Mr Aulich and Mrs Harders' most recent appearance that they would be permitted to continue practising law as their matters progressed.
However, Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker was told limitations had been placed on the pair's ability to work on certain types of cases, and that both had given voluntary undertakings not to appear in court on behalf of clients.
Prosecutor Keegan Lee on Thursday described the cases of Mr Aulich, Mrs Harders and Mr Papandrea as "major matters".
He indicated to the court that it would take a significant amount of time before the brief of evidence could be completed and served.
This was in part because "a large number of transcripts" had to be included, and the service responsible for compiling those was experiencing a backlog caused by the unusually high number of homicide investigations in Canberra this year.
Mr Lee did not say what the transcripts were of.
Mark Tedeschi QC, the former senior Crown prosecutor for NSW, will in time be briefed to appear in these matters on behalf of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions.
The three accused are all expected back in the Magistrates Court on March 1, when their cases may be committed to the ACT Supreme Court for trial.
