Legal framework and enforcement system regarding subsidiaries, agents and other intermediaries: Argentine law expressly addresses foreign bribery of a public official via an intermediary.16 This covers cases in which the intermediary may not be aware of the extent of the bribery, and, if aware of the intent, the intermediary can be held responsible for the bribe together with the briber.17 Recent developments: There is a package of anti-corruption proposals under consideration by the Parliament. Should these proposals be approved, it is anticipated that most of the inadequacies in the legal framework to enforce the Convention will be removed. Recommendations: Introduce legislation to protect whistle-blowers and other witnesses in corruption cases and to provide greater access to information about bribery cases. Change the role of prosecutors in the penal process and adapt penalties to correspond to the considerable damage that corruption can cause. Reform the court system to ensure the independence of judges and prosecutors and to enable them to avoid any political pressure. In particular, enhance the appointment procedure and reform the Judicial Council. Enhance the accountability and independence of the Ministerio Público (prosecutorial office) and fully implement the other anti-corruption conventions to which Argentina is party, namely the Inter-American and UN Conventions.
AUSTRALIA LITTLE OR NO ENFORCEMENT: No prosecutions but one civil action in relation to alleged improper, payments by an Australian company AWB in Iraq and three investigations. Share of world exports is 1.4 per cent. Foreign bribery cases or investigations: There are no pending cases but a civil action and three investigations, one of which was initiated in 2010. Ten other investigations were concluded during the year, without any prosecutions arising. In August 2010, the Victorian Supreme Court lifted a stay, clearing the way for the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to bring civil actions against five senior executives of the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) in relation to alleged payments of A $300 million (US $315 million) in kickbacks in Iraq in the context of the UN Oil-for-Food programme.18 The same month, AWB was acquired by the Canadian company Agrium. According to information currently available about the civil actions, they are scheduled for hearing in June 2011. An investigation of AWB by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) had reportedly been under-resourced and was dropped in August 2009.19 Since May 2009, the AFP have, with assistance from the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), been carrying out an investigation into foreign bribery allegations against the Australian banknote printing company Securency International Pty Ltd.20 Fifty per cent of the company is owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia and 50 per cent by the UK company Innovia Films, which in turn is majority owned by the UK private equity fund Candover Investments. According to media reports, from 1999 to 2010 Securency allegedly provided benefits to senior officials in up to six countries, reportedly including Nigeria, Malaysia and Vietnam, via offshore accounts and overseas agents engaged to market the company’s polymer banknotes.21 A news article in January 2011 reported allegations that the company provided the tuition of a child of the governor of the Vietnamese Central Bank from 1999 to 2007 via a slush fund, a middleman and bank accounts in Switzerland and Hong Kong, in return for contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.22 In February 2011, a newspaper reported allegations that “Securency made regular multi-million-dollar payments to offshore accounts belonging to its overseas agents without requiring the agents
16 OECD Working Group on Bribery , October 2009, “Typologies on the Role of Intermediaries in International Business Transactions” http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/17/43879503.pdf 17 OECD Working Group on Bribery , Phase 1 Report on Argentina, April 2001, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/31/50/2078382.pdf 18 The Age, 3 August 2010, “Court lifts stay order on AWB civil actions”, http://www.theage.com.au/business/court-lifts-stay-order-on-awb-civil-actions-20100802-113e5.html; ASIC, 2 August 2010, http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/07-332+ASIC+launches+civil+penalty+action+against+former+officers+of+AWB?o penDocument 19 The Australian, 29 August 2009, “Federal police drop AWB investigation”, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/federal-police-drop-awb-investigation/story-e6frg90f-1225767255737 20 SFO Press Release, 15 October 2010, http://www.sfo.gov.uk/press-room/latest-press-releases/press-releases-2010/update-in-relation-to-securency-international-pty-ltd.aspx ; SFO Press Release, 6 October 2010, http://www.sfo.gov.uk/press-room/latest-press-releases/press-releases-2010/coordinated-global-searches-in-relation-to-securencyinternational-pty-ltd.aspx 21 Financial Times, 25 January 2011, “Former Vietnam bank chief linked to graft probe” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f5d1ef40-2880-11e0-bfcc-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ESPrR9aY 22 The Age, 24 January 2011 “Firm ‘bribed bank chief’” http://www.theage.com.au/national/firm-bribed-bank-chief-20110123-1a17j.html
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Transparency International