RBA Denies New Evidence in Bribery Case

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has vehemently denied claims that many of its senior officials mislead the parliamentary committee on the bribery scandal at the Note Printing Australia (NPA).

In a statement released by the RBA through the media, the bank said that the allegations by a news program that aired on ABC were ill-founded.

The NPA has been under investigation about this bribery allegations since 2009. The company is a subsidiary of the RBA and is partly owned by Securency.

The bribery charge allegedly involved foreign officials who gave favors in exchange for contracts. The allegations by ABC program 7.30 came in light of a “new” statement by one of NPA’s employees.

The statement was allegedly received at the request of deputy governor Ric Battellino.

It was said that there was a meeting involving the employee and the deputy governor in confidence where documents were submitted. These documents have been entered into evidence by the prosecution.

The RBA representative, however, said that whether this would be part of public record as hearings are currently progressing, things should be a matter for the court.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens is expected to be at the hearing committee set by the parliament this Friday to answer these allegations. The RBA said the organization is standing by him and rejects any implications or insinuations that the governor or any other office of the bank misled the committee.