Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has refuted a foreign media report alleging two Australian banknote firms attempted to bribe him over a multimillion-ringgit currency contract during his tenure as Prime Minister.
He said he had no recollection of anyone approaching him with such an offer.
“There is no truth whatsoever in the allegation as I cannot remember of anyone approaching me with any offer.
“If indeed there was any, I would have unhesitatingly lodged an immediate report to the regulatory authorities including the police for the necessary follow-up action,” Abdullah said in press statement yesterday.
A news report published in Australian daily The Age said the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) banknote firms were suspected of attempting to bribe Abdullah in order to get his help to win a A$31mil (RM99.82mil) currency contract.
The report said Abdullah was one of several highly influential Malaysian political figures whom anti-corruption authorities believe Securency and Note Printing Australia firms respectively half and fully owned and overseen by RBA allegedly sought to bribe using part of A$4.2mil (RM13.52mil) in commission payments made to two Malaysian middlemen.
The daily said its Malaysian sources confirmed that the Australian Federal Police had gathered information about attempts to bribe Abdullah by Securency and Note Printing Australia.
The newspaper said it was made to understand that the attempt to bribe Abdullah occurred in 2003, the year he became prime minister and finance minister.
Abdullah served as prime minister until 2009.
Last week, Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Mohamad Daud Dol Moin, 58, claimed trial in the Sessions Court to two counts of accepting bribes amounting to RM100,000 from a businessman to help procure a contract from the central bank.
Mohamad Daud was accused of receiving two bribes of RM50,000 from Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad at Dome Restaurant, Bangsar Shopping Centre, on Dec 1, 2004, and Feb 16, 2005.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said the contract to print RM5 polymer bank notes by Note Printing Australia Ltd was worth about RM95mil.
Source : The Star
Previous related news : Two banknote firms and six ex-employees charged
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