UPDATE: Additional foreign bribery charge for Brisbane man
Editor’s Note: Stills of the Brisbane arrest from November 2020 are available via Hightail
The Australian Federal Police has laid an additional foreign bribery charge on a 54-year-old Brisbane man.
AFP investigators arrested the former director of Leighton Offshore Pte Ltd. in November 2020, as part a long-running foreign bribery investigation, known as Operation Trig.
The new charge, laid on Friday (19 February 2021) is related to the foreign bribery investigation, known as Operation Amber, which began in July 2014. It followed a report from the Australian-registered company Leighton Holdings Ltd. over alleged improper payments made by its Singapore-registered operating company Leighton Offshore Pte Ltd.
The allegations related to a contract for a single point mooring replacement project in Tanzania in 2009 and 2010. The contract was allegedly valued at USD $66.48 million.
Police allege public officials in the Tanzania Ports Authority responsible for awarding the contract were the targets of the bribery scheme.
The investigation allegedly identified approximately USD $4 million in suspicious payments that were incorporated into Leighton Offshore Pte Ltd. subcontracts with third-party contractors.
The contract was awarded to Leighton Offshore Pte Ltd. in August 2010.
AFP investigators worked closely with international law enforcement partners and the Tanzanian Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau during the six-year investigation to seize more than one million documents and obtain evidence from five countries.
The 54-year-old Brisbane man has been charged, as part of Operation Amber with one foreign bribery offence contrary to sections 70.2 and 11.5 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
He is scheduled to appear in Sydney Downing Centre today (23 February 2021) to address the foreign bribery charges laid against him.
The AFP has not ruled out further arrests or charges, with investigations continuing.
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