FED:RBA 'failed to alert police to bribery'

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2011
FED:RBA 'failed to alert police to bribery'

SYDNEY, Aug 11 AAP - The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) failed to alert police when
it received damning evidence its subsidiary Note Printing Australia (NPA) was implicated
in bribery, Fairfax newspapers reported on Thursday.

In mid-2007, the NPA board was given information on how the company's agents were bribing
officials in Malaysia and Nepal, a senior RBA official told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The source said the evidence included admissions by the agents that they had used commission
payments from NPA to bribe officials to secure banknote printing contracts from the countries'
central banks.

NPA board members who received the information included the former RBA deputy governor,
Graeme Thompson, a former RBA board member, Dick Warburton, the former RBA assistant governor,
Les Austin, the RBA assistant governor, Frank Campbell, and the former Liberal Party treasurer,
Mark Bethwaite.

After being alerted to the bribery concerns by the NPA board, the RBA leadership decided
to handle the matter internally rather than call in the Australian Federal Police, the
Herald reported.

AAP ct/jel

KEYWORD: RBA

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