Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker
August 12, 2011
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Glenn Stevens. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
THE Greens will seek an independent inquiry with Royal Commission powers to probe the international bribery scandal enveloping the Reserve Bank's currency firms, including the revelations that senior bank officials knew of evidence of bribery in 2007 but did not call in the police.
Adam Bandt, the only Green in the lower house, said the RBA banknote scandal had become so serious that an independent inquiry with wide-ranging powers was essential to answer the growing questions about the Reserve Bank's handling of the affair.
The push by the Greens came as Treasurer Wayne Swan declined to answer a question about whether he had full confidence in the way RBA governor Glenn Stevens, his deputy Ric Battellino and the NPA board have handled the bribery affair.
Adam Bandt will put a motion to the House of Representatives next week. Photo: Craig Abraham
Mr Swan's spokesman said the Treasurer - who for two years has refused to answer questions about the scandal - would ''not be running a commentary on these matters'' amid ongoing police investigations and prosecutions.
Mr Bandt will put a motion to the House of Representatives next week, forcing the Gillard government- which requires the support of the Greens to pass legislation - to confront a scandal they have avoided commenting on for more than two years.
Deputy federal opposition leader Julie Bishop last month said the Coalition would support either a parliamentary or judicial inquiry into the RBA's role in the scandal, as well as that of other government agencies such as Austrade, which has worked closely with Securency and NPA. Ms Bishop said such an inquiry should not interfere with the work of the Federal Police, which has so far laid bribery charges against eight former executives from the RBA bank note companies. Both companies have been charged.
Yesterday, The Age revealed that the leadership of the Reserve Bank - including serving and former assistant and deputy governors - failed to alert police after the bank received damning evidence in 2007 that its subsidiary Note Printing Australia was implicated in the bribery of foreign officials. Rather than contact police, the RBA paid for a corporate law firm Freehills to do a confidential probe and report back to the bank in 2007. The RBA says Freehills found no breach of Australian law involving NPA. The AFP was not alerted until May 2009 after The Age first exposed corruption concerns at NPA's sister company, Securency.
Last month, prosecutors told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that NPA and Securency had signalled they would plead guilty to bribery charges.
A draft of Mr Bandt's motion calls on Ms Gillard to immediately establish an inquiry to examine corruption allegations against Securency and NPA and payments to agents into offshore tax haven accounts.
The motion will require the inquiry to determine the level of knowledge of the RBA, Austrade and the Australian government about the companies' activities and when each first became aware of concerns over alleged bribery.
Mr Bandt said the AFP had done ''a very vigorous job in pursuing the immediate players in this scandal'' but that federal agents appeared not to have so far probed ''the apparent failures of governance by the Reserve Bank and others."
"This scandal touches the key financial institution in this country, as well as other arms of government. We need a fully inquiry to clear the air. As more and more evidence emerges, it is clear the Reserve Bank, Austrade and the Department of Foreign Affairs have big questions to answer,'' he said.
The government and the Coalition have previously blocked attempts by Greens leader Bob Brown to have a Senate committee investigate the banknote bribery scandal.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/greens-seek-currency-scandal-probe-20110811-1iowp.html#ixzz1Ukjdveow
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