Article here. Cliffnotes: Federal police have charged two Reserve Bank of Australia currency firms, Securency and Note Printing Australia, along with several of the company's former senior managers with paying massive bribes to foreign officials in order to win banknote supply contracts. A federal police statement released this morning said: "The AFP will allege that during the period 1999-2005, senior managers from Securency and NPA utilised international sales agents to bribe foreign public officials in order to secure banknote contracts." The federal government is believed to be deeply concerned by the scandal, given its potential to damage the nation's international relations and erode confidence in the pillar of Australia's financial system, the RBA. The criminal charges relate to bribes allegedly paid between 1999 and 2005, although the AFP is still investigating multimillion dollar kickbacks allegedly paid between 2005 and 2010.
This issue was well known in Romania. That is the only reason Australia had the contact. The value of the kickback was more important, than the price of the contract so everyone was happy. Just wonder how long will take to the Federal Police to add Romania to list as well.
geezuz, I hope the investigators aren't being paid by the hour. 4Corners reported this story years ago!
what is the "practical" net result of this in real world terms? It just means some supply firms engaged in corrupt business practice and they had *GASP* links to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Won't mean a damn thing in terms of currency or global trade surely.
The real money is not even in the note printing, but in international pharmaceutical contract and arm deals. I know countries where the wholesale price on certain drugs are 10 times what we pay retail here in Australian, and the system set up the way that 90% of the actual sale price goes back to politicians as kick backs.
This makes zero sense to me. Why is the Australian 'justice' system prosecuting these persons when the beneficiary is an Australian enterprise? Then why is a piece of legislation like this on the books? No Australian persons or entities were defrauded - whatever amounts given away willingly would be a pittance compared to the profits on the contracts. Grease, oily water, the Benjamin Franklin shortcut, billing for 'Services Rendered'...whatever shape or form. It has always happened, it is still happening, and as long as people are trading it will always happen. To pretend to 'above this' only means the best deals are struck by others who aren't so hypocritical.
What I find stunning is that a Western government is prosecuting anyone from the banking or currency/finance sector with any wrongdoing. They are a protected species. Those guys must be wondering why they are being picked on while Goldman Sachs employees pillage economies all over the world and get paid a bonus to do it.
I know at least two courtiers in Europe doing similar practices. In the fist case one of my relatives lives in that country told me how expensive was to buy cretin medication. She told me the cost was about $80. I told her this is impossible, because we can buy this medication here over the counter, even without subscription for $6 only. Anyway on the end I bought the medication here and sent it to her with express courier for $50 and it was still cheaper that way. I quickly forget about the problem and did not think about the issue until I was in another country where I found a nice lady who was working in a pharmacy distribution centre. This is a company acting between the importers, government and the pharmacies. This is how I discovered how this corruption works on grand scale. I know too much about the scam and this is the reason I don't want to name countries publicly.
