THE Australian government honoured a Nepalese businessman who allegedly paid bribes to secure a contract for a Reserve Bank of Australia subsidiary.
Himalaya Pande's contribution to Nepal-Australia relations was recognised by the Australian embassy in Nepal on January 28, 2009 - nearly two years after the RBA received evidence alleging Mr Pande had used commission payments from Note Printing Australia to bribe Nepalese officials to award banknote contracts to the firm in 2002 and 2004.
The Herald revealed last week that senior RBA officials, including its governor, Glenn Stevens, and his deputy, Ric Battellino, chose not to refer the 2007 information implicating NPA in bribery in Nepal and Malaysia to federal police and instead handled the issue internally.
NPA sacked the agents involved, including Mr Pande. The RBA contracted the law firm Freehills to examine the bribery information, which included allegations the agents had admitted bribing officials using NPA's commission payments. The RBA said Freehills found no breach of Australian law and, as such, there was no need to alert police.
The Australian Federal Police taskforce that has already charged NPA and its sister RBA firm, Securency, with alleged bribery in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia is also investigating the Nepal contracts. Eight former Securency and NPA executives have also been charged with Australia's first foreign bribery offences.
Nepal's major newspapers have recently reported that the country's anti-corruption agency and parliament had begun investigations into the circumstances of the NPA's 2002 and 2004 contracts.
Nepal's central bank laws had to be changed in 2002 in order to award the banknote printing contract to NPA. The law had stated Nepal's currency could only be printed on paper, but it was abruptly changed to allow money to be printed on other materials. NPA prints plastic banknotes.
The Herald has learnt that Australian diplomats and trade officials were strongly involved in lobbying Nepalese officials to award a banknote printing contract to NPA, which is fully-owned by the RBA and was directed by several serving and former senior Reserve Bank officials.
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