The year in Australia for foreign bribery and corruption matters has been mixed. While the singular Securency prosecution has become delayed in legal argument with the committal hearing yet to be completed, the Australian media has been at the forefront of promoting a greater awareness of foreign bribery issues and taking to task corporations and management (ranging from allegations concerning the Reserve Bank banknote printing scandal, BHP Billiton and tainted Olympic medal minting contracts, Oz Minerals and Cambodian mining sagas and Leighton Holdings construction projects in the Middle East) who appear, at least in the eyes of the media, to be less than diligent in their compliance and ethical activities.
In September 2013, Australia changed government from a Labor to a conservative (Liberal/National) government. Whether or not foreign bribery and its regulation and enforcement are of interest to the current government is unclear as they have said almost nothing on the topic. It is hoped international momentum in combating foreign bribery and commercial corruption continues to germinate in Australia, albeit very slowly and becomes more of a focus during 2014.
Australia's corruption reputation
The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2013 was released earlier this month and, surprise surprise, Australia's ranking amongst the stars in cleanliness dropped from 85 in 2012 to 81 in 2013.
While Australia was still ranked as the 9th "cleanest" country in the world and the 3rd cleanest country in the Asia Pacific region, the constant flow of media attention on the topic, particularly the criminal prosecution of the Securency and Note Printing Australia executives through to the offshore activities of BHP Billiton, Oz Minerals and Leighton Holdings to the NSW State-based corruption investigations of various former politicians and crown ministers, it does not take much publicity to generate a negative perception that Australia is perhaps not as clean as it would like to be seen. Clearly, further work needs to be done to address these perceptions.
RW - Foreign Bribery year in review.pdf
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