Currency printers charged over banknote bribes

Former executives of Securency International and Note Printing Australia have been arrested for bribing foreign public officials in order to secure banknote contracts.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has charged the two Australian companies and six Victorian individuals with charges of bribery to public officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam between 1999-2005.

The AFP will allege “senior managers from Securency and NPA utilised international sales agents to bribe foreign public officials in order to secure banknote contracts.”

Per offence, charges laid against the companies carry a maximum fine of $330,000, while charges against the individuals carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $1.1 million.

In Australia’s first prosecution under foreign bribery legislation introduced in 1999, the arrests coincide with related bribery charges laid against two individuals in Malaysia by the Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) owns Note Printing Australia, responsible for running the printing works where Australia's banknotes are printed. Securency, half owned by the RBA, produces the polymer substrate on which Australia's banknotes are printed.

The Governor of the RBA says in the strongest terms it condemns corrupt or questionable behaviour of any kind. “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.

The Reserve Bank and the two companies continue to offer their full support and co-operation to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the AFP in bringing about a proper conclusion to these matters’, the Governor said.

The AFP investigation has run concurrently with investigations by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Malaysian Attorney General’s Chambers and Indonesian National Police.