A former lawyer accused of conspiring to launder money is set to challenge a magistrate's court order committing him to stand trial.
Ben Aulich, 51, and accountant Michael Papandrea, 57, are accused of conspiring in 2020 to help an undercover police officer buy a supermarket to launder $100,000 cash per month, purported to be from the illegal import of cigarettes.
On Wednesday, the ACT Supreme Court heard both men were seeking a judicial review of a magistrate's decision to commit the case to a higher court.
They are also expected to file a stay application arguing for the charges to be discontinued.
On Wednesday, Aulich formally entered pleas of not guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, and a further charge of recruiting Papandrea to engage in criminal activity.
Papandrea formally pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Papandrea's lawyer, Michael Kukulies-Smith, had sought to delay his client's Supreme Court arraignment until after the stay application was decided.
Meanwhile, Aulich's lawyer, John Purnell SC, said he didn't "see the point of proceeding to arraignment" if the case would potentially be discontinued.
However, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said this could not be postponed.
In August, special magistrate Sean Richter committed the case to the ACT Supreme Court after finding there was a "reasonable prospect" of success.
He found that despite Aulich's alleged "protestations and various comments this was just one of a number of ways [to deal with the money] ... it is clear from the evidence that this was the whole purpose of the scheme".
"I cannot be satisfied that there is no reasonable prospect [of being found guilty]," Mr Richter said.
The two men had contested the case being sent to a higher court. They had argued there was insufficient evidence, claimed police entrapment, and sought to have the charges dismissed.
The prosecution case is that the undercover police officer, using the name "Alex Torosian", posed as a client of Aulich's self-titled law firm for about eight months in 2020.
"Torosian" covertly recorded numerous conversations, during which he purportedly pretended to be a criminal involved in the importation of illicit cigarettes.
Police allege Aulich and Papandrea conspired with him to buy the supermarket for the purpose of laundering a "wardrobe full of f---ing cash" from the fictitious illegal tobacco venture.
Aulich and Papandrea are set to face court again at a later date.
