Securency paid corrupt middleman

A news by The Age Australia reported that Reserve Bank currency firm Securency paid an allegedly corrupt middleman to get the RBA's plastic banknote technology on the agenda of a meeting between then prime minister John Howard and the Nigerian president. Securency wired more than $6 million into senior Securency middleman Benoy Berry in late 2009 tax-haven bank account, in return for his help lobbying senior foreign politicians. Some of them including then Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and senior Indian politicians, including the president of the Congress Party of India.

A letter written by senior Securency middleman Benoy Berry in late 2009 details the meeting and accuses the RBA firm of offering ''payoffs and kickbacks to public functionaries in poor nations'' and resorting to ''less than ethical liaisons with public officials whose appointed fronts you [Securency] now utilise as conduits to distribute inducements".

Securency is half-owned by the Reserve Bank, is overseen by four RBA-appointed directors, including senior serving and former officials, and, since its inception in 1996, has been promoted heavily by senior politicians, ambassadors and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Mr Berry's letter highlights how Securency's allegedly longstanding corrupt behaviour continues to tarnish Australia's reputation.

In his September 2009 letter, Mr Berry claims the RBA firm should give him more than the $6.4 million already paid because of the strength of his lobbying, including his role in influencing the agenda of the 2003 Howard-Obasanjo meeting.

''I had many meeting at the [Nigerian] Presidential Villa … to set up polymer technology issues on the agenda for a state visit by then Australian Prime Minister, the Rt Hon John Howard to Nigeria, which arrangements I coordinated with your then High Commissioner, all of which were

successfully implemented,'' Mr Berry's letter says.

Mr Howard was in Nigeria for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting when he met Mr Obasanjo. The Age is not suggesting he was aware of Mr Berry's lobbying.

When asked about the meeting, a DFAT spokeswoman said that from 2001 the RBA firm and the Australian High Commission in Nigeria had worked together to promote "Securency's polymer technology through meetings with senior Nigerian government representatives".

The Berry letter also raises fresh questions about the failure of the RBA to prevent the polymer note-maker from engaging in bribery. The letter, which is addressed to Securency's then managing director Myles Curtis, threatens to expose the firm's "governance and corrupting malfeasance''.

Source: The Age

So far three people arrested in Malaysia for Securency case and Vietnam Official also linked to this case too.