{"id":62289,"date":"2022-10-11T06:28:03","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T06:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/10\/11\/australians-arrested-over-alleged-sri-lanka-bribes-for-lucrative-contracts\/"},"modified":"2022-10-11T06:28:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T06:28:03","slug":"australians-arrested-over-alleged-sri-lanka-bribes-for-lucrative-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/10\/11\/australians-arrested-over-alleged-sri-lanka-bribes-for-lucrative-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Australians arrested over alleged Sri Lanka bribes for lucrative contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two Australians have been accused of bribing Sri Lankan officials to secure multi-million dollar infrastructure contracts.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Australian police arrested the couple last month after a decade-long investigation that spanned several countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The men, aged 67 and 71, worked for a company accused of wrongdoing in South Asian countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They have yet to respond to the charges and will appear in court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Australian Federal Police (AFP) say the men arranged more than A$304,000 ($190,000, \u00a3172,000) in bribes to government officials between 2009 and 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The bribes were allegedly paid in pursuit of two A$14 million Sri Lankan projects which police did not name.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The charges follow an investigation into SMEC International Pty Ltd, an Australia-based engineering firm, involving authorities from the US, Canada, India and other countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More arrests and charges are possible, AFP said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Corruption undermines fair competition and can have disastrous consequences for developing countries, global poverty reduction and development efforts,” said Detective Supt Helen Schneider.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Originally known as Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, SMEC was formed in 1949 to build a legendary Australian infrastructure project. Since then, the company has grown to 5,400 employees in many countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2017, the World Bank temporarily banned SMEC and four affiliates in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from bidding for any of its contracts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The World Bank said it uncovered evidence linking the company to alleged “improper payments” in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the time, a spokesman for SMEC said the allegations did not relate to Australian projects and that the company would continue to strengthen its corporate integrity compliance programs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Protests have erupted in Sri Lanka this year over corruption allegations and the country’s worst economic crisis in history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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