D-Day
3rd July 2011, 10:28
Bribery charges for RBA subsidiaries
Friday 1 July 2011, 10:37 EST
The Australian Federal Police have laid bribery charges against Securency International and Note Printing Australia, as well as six individuals involved with the firms.
The charges relate to bribes that are alleged to have been paid to officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam between 1999 and 2005 in order to secure contracts to produce bank notes for those nations.
The individuals charged include former chief executive officers and chief financial officers of Securency and Note Printing Australia, as well as sales agents acting on behalf of each company.
The individuals charged appeared in Melbourne Magistrate's Court today, and were granted bail.
Magistrate Donna Bakos has ordered them to return to court in September for a committal mention hearing.
The two companies charged will front the court on July 27.
Officials say the prosecutions are the culmination of a two-year investigation, and add that investigations are ongoing with further charges expected to be laid.
However, police emphasised that the charges against the companies do not mean that individual board members of the two firms had any knowledge of the alleged bribery practices.
The Reserve Bank is a 50 per cent shareholder in Securency, but has been trying to sell its stake since November last year, saying "negotiations are ongoing".
The Reserve Bank wholly owns Note Printing Australia.
The RBA says it referred the allegations of bribery to the Australian Federal Police in May 2009, following reports in the media concerning Securency's use of agents in foreign countries to secure sales.
The bank and Federal Police say the RBA and the boards of its subsidiaries extended their support to the investigation over the past two years.
The RBA says none of the individuals charged has an ongoing connection to either of the two companies or the Reserve Bank, and that no one in the Reserve Bank itself, including its representatives on the two subsidiaries' boards, have been accused of wrongdoing.
"The Reserve Bank condemns in the strongest terms corrupt or questionable behaviour of any kind," RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement.
"Companies associated with the Reserve Bank and their staff must, like the bank itself, meet the highest standards of integrity and fully comply with the law.
This is what the Australian community expects.
"The Reserve Bank deeply regrets that the governance arrangements and processes in the companies at that time were not able to prevent or detect the alleged behaviour that has led to today's charges." The AFP says it is the first prosecution under foreign bribery legislation that came into force in 1999 - the maximum penalty is ten years' imprisonment and/or a $1.1 million fine.
The AFP says Malaysian authorities have also laid related charges against two individuals.
New bribery act in Britain The Securency prosecutions coincide with the introduction of tough new legislation in Britain designed to crack down on bribery and corruption around the world.
The UK Bribery Act came into force today and will impose unlimited fines and prison terms on companies and individuals involved in corruption.
The act is already sending shudders through Australian corporate boardrooms, especially ones that deal with British companies, or their subsidiaries in emerging Asia where bribery is common.
Source: http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Bribery-charges-RBA-abc-3362103084.html?x=0
Friday 1 July 2011, 10:37 EST
The Australian Federal Police have laid bribery charges against Securency International and Note Printing Australia, as well as six individuals involved with the firms.
The charges relate to bribes that are alleged to have been paid to officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam between 1999 and 2005 in order to secure contracts to produce bank notes for those nations.
The individuals charged include former chief executive officers and chief financial officers of Securency and Note Printing Australia, as well as sales agents acting on behalf of each company.
The individuals charged appeared in Melbourne Magistrate's Court today, and were granted bail.
Magistrate Donna Bakos has ordered them to return to court in September for a committal mention hearing.
The two companies charged will front the court on July 27.
Officials say the prosecutions are the culmination of a two-year investigation, and add that investigations are ongoing with further charges expected to be laid.
However, police emphasised that the charges against the companies do not mean that individual board members of the two firms had any knowledge of the alleged bribery practices.
The Reserve Bank is a 50 per cent shareholder in Securency, but has been trying to sell its stake since November last year, saying "negotiations are ongoing".
The Reserve Bank wholly owns Note Printing Australia.
The RBA says it referred the allegations of bribery to the Australian Federal Police in May 2009, following reports in the media concerning Securency's use of agents in foreign countries to secure sales.
The bank and Federal Police say the RBA and the boards of its subsidiaries extended their support to the investigation over the past two years.
The RBA says none of the individuals charged has an ongoing connection to either of the two companies or the Reserve Bank, and that no one in the Reserve Bank itself, including its representatives on the two subsidiaries' boards, have been accused of wrongdoing.
"The Reserve Bank condemns in the strongest terms corrupt or questionable behaviour of any kind," RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement.
"Companies associated with the Reserve Bank and their staff must, like the bank itself, meet the highest standards of integrity and fully comply with the law.
This is what the Australian community expects.
"The Reserve Bank deeply regrets that the governance arrangements and processes in the companies at that time were not able to prevent or detect the alleged behaviour that has led to today's charges." The AFP says it is the first prosecution under foreign bribery legislation that came into force in 1999 - the maximum penalty is ten years' imprisonment and/or a $1.1 million fine.
The AFP says Malaysian authorities have also laid related charges against two individuals.
New bribery act in Britain The Securency prosecutions coincide with the introduction of tough new legislation in Britain designed to crack down on bribery and corruption around the world.
The UK Bribery Act came into force today and will impose unlimited fines and prison terms on companies and individuals involved in corruption.
The act is already sending shudders through Australian corporate boardrooms, especially ones that deal with British companies, or their subsidiaries in emerging Asia where bribery is common.
Source: http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Bribery-charges-RBA-abc-3362103084.html?x=0