Analysis of Corruption in Australian Business: Cases and Strategies

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of corruption in Australian businesses, examining various bribery scandals and their impact on the country's economic growth. It highlights cases involving companies like Securency, SMEC, and Tabcorp, detailing instances of foreign bribery and illicit fund flows. The essay emphasizes the importance of effective leadership, ethical behavior, and strong corporate governance in combating corruption. It also explores the need for updated anti-corruption policies, robust procedures, and a culture of transparency. The discussion includes recommendations for government strategies, such as implementing 24/7 whistleblowing hotlines and providing ongoing training, while also highlighting the role of global leaders in promoting ethical conduct. The essay concludes by stressing the importance of policy enforcement and ethical standards to create a business environment where corruption is the exception, not the norm.

Running head: CORRUPTION IN BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA
CORRUPTION IN BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA
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Australia was ranked 13th in the transparency International’s global corruption index in
the for the second year. This index evaluates the perception of corruptions that occur in public
service. Major forms of corruption are related to mining industry and foreign bribery in
Australia. Corruption has the potential to create catastrophic harm to the overall economic
growth of the country. This essay aims to illustrate the various bribing scandals that occurred in
Australia and the anti-corruption polcies and legislation that need to be enforced.
Professor AJ Brown is a member professor of the Transparency International Australia
board."We have every reason to be concerned that next year, unless we start to take some
concrete steps to build international confidence, then this may just have just been a little step on
a continued way down," Professor Brown said (Direct quote). One of the corruption case was
noted when a scandal took place where two firms owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia called
the Securency and Note printing Australia were charged with the case of bribing foreign
officials so that they can win back note contracts in the year 2013 (ABC News 2017) (News
article). Many researchers are of the opinion that illicit flow of funds into Australia and
particularly from Asia has been one of the significant problems for which proper laws need to be
places with correct transparency (Watt 2015). Moreover, there are two important Australian
companies who have embroiled in the different bribery scandals which reach into the offices of
the presidents of Sri Lanka as well as the Republic of Congo. These organizations are believed to
have been engaged in multimillion dollar contracts (ABC News 2017) (News article). It has been
found that Perth based mining industry called the Sundance Resources had bribed the leaders of
the Republic of Congo since they required presidential approval in 2007 as they were in need of
the Africa’s most ambitious iron projects of Australia. When the Australian Federal police had
conducted an investigation, it showed that a secret share of deal which had a worth of millions of

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dollars was brokered with the son of Congo’s despotic president namely Denis Sassou Nguesso.
In this regard, the company had successfully captured the president’s support for backing up the
project (Belasen and Toma 2015). Another important scandal came into news which included
iconic Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC). The overseas staff of the organization
has bribed the officials to secure a $2.3 million aid-funded sewerage project in the nation of Sri
Lanka in the year 2011. Not only that, they developed a partnership with the Canadian company
and together bribed a $ 2.2 million power plant project in the nation of Bangladesh on the year
2007 (Nick McKenzie, 2017). A deal was signed with the Sri Lankan cabinet minister called Mr.
Sirisena who was given bribes from the Australian company in the form of donations for which
Sirisena would approve the awarding of the dam contract to the organization (ABC News 2017)
(News article). Another corruption which had shook the business world of the nation is the
scandal of the head of the Primary healthcare namely Peter Gregg as well as his former employer
Leighton’s Holdings and engineering group called WorsleysParsons getting involved in Bribery
and corruption. Gregg was found to make a whopping payment of $ 15 million which he claimed
to be a legitimate payment but could not prove it (Nick McKenzie 2017). Tabcorp had been also
investigated by the Federal police as it was engaged in bribing the Cambodian prime minister
when the company wanted to get gaming license in the country (Breen et al. 2017) (Academic
journal).
It is seen form from the discussion that there are many organisations as well as the people
who are facing the corruption on the daily basis. In most of the cases it has been seen that a
company might be asked by a government official of a foreign country for payment or amount of
money in order to pass a licence which will help the organisation to sell a product to consumers
there. there are times when the company can only enter into a potential growth markets if they

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do not provide money to the official. This has been a common form of corruption in the present
day and there should be proper solution for it. Effective leadership in today's environment is
extremely important where the corruption is prevalent. By participating in different kinds of
training activities as well as setting the organisations code of ethics, the leader can set up an
example for the employees. This example would be helpful in serving as a reference point for the
employees as to how they should act ethically when such a challenging situation arises. Battling
corruption does not only include complying with the laws and staying out for being discussed in
the headlines. The main importance of battling corruption is that it has a requirement from the
leaders to demonstrate activities as well as physical commitment for dealing with the case. In
order to achieve this the leaders need to be engaged with their organisations processes of anti
corruption. In course of time when this process becomes outdated it is necessary for the leaders
to take initiative for their improvement. The leaders should remember that they would be the
principal figures who will set the tone of the organisation order to properly establish the
examples of ethical conduct. They must be the person who would be able to answer all the
difficult questions of the employees as well as the business partners. And other important thing
that the leadership keep an eye on is to help the policy makers in adopting tougher laws and
regulations and should step up for their efforts to combat the problem.Ethical behaviour should
be the foundation of the initiative and should undertake good corporate governance.They should
also encompass business practices at different levels that start from board as well as to employee
levels. Both the board and the employees take initiative individually from their own sides to stop
corruption (Belasen and Toma 2015). Boards should play an important role by developing
incentive structures for the employees which would help to support and ethical leadership and it
among senior management. As is seen from the discussion that Global leaders are mainly in the

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front lines of the battle against production. It is in their hands that they should publicly support
anti-bribery laws and speak out against corruption practices. They should also make sure that this
that the right to which would ensure that each employee would understand the different types of
conduct that are acceptable and those which should not be accepted. The leaders should
demonstrate their commitment to act against bribery by ensuring that the company address even
the minor of the details. This initiative of the leaders should include a thorough background
check on suppliers as well as taking the reference checks during the different types of hiring
processes.
The chairman of Transparency International's Australian subsidiary called Mr. Whealy are of the
opinion that unless the anti money laundering regime cannot be developed by Australia, it would
continue to fall in the different corruption rankings (Indirect quote). Brown had also stated that
"The big gap is in the lack of a federal anti-corruption agency to really cover the gaps that we
know exist in terms of public officials and parliamentarians being covered by the right sort of
oversight," (direct quote). He had stated that there is urgent need to develop a better vision and
there is also an urgency to control the source form where money is coming from. A number of
strategies should be initiated by the government with strictness in action. Firstly, there should be
proper policies which should be up to date, relevant as well as tailored for the organization as
well as to the industry where it operates. Secondly the procedures should be well documented
with audited for compliance (Haddad 2017) (Academic journal). Thirdly, a proper culture with
top down and bottom up would help in the promotion of transparency and also reward those
which identify the corruption and fraud. This would also take steps to protect those who had
come forward form adverse action. Fourthly, a proper framework for fraud and corruption

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control which is necessary for the effective management of the situation is necessary. This would
also assign responsibility and also outline the obligations of key stakeholders. Fifthly, a 24/7
hotline for the whistleblowers should be provided with protected disclosure policy. Proper
employment screening should also be conducted would be conducted following proper rules.
Training should also be conducted which would be tailored as well as relevant and delivered not
only at the time of induction but on an ongoing basis (ABC News 2017) (News Article).
It shouldbe noted that leadership and proper corporate governance are not the ultimate
solution to production process but with proper values and commitment to different kinds of
ethical standards, they can help to create a wonderful walking place where corruption becomes
the exception rather than the goal followed. Policy and enforcement efforts should be continued
so that there can be the shift of the landscape of compliance for different kinds of Global
Business leaders. In today's world it is much easier to remain connected and therefore each and
every business leaders should carry great power and influence the way others can conduct
business. The organisational culture should be developed by them by installing ethics and
compliance and by promoting core values setting proper Expectations and providing various
kinds of incentive. All these measures would ultimately help in going a long way for achieving
the best productivity of the organisation and also help in developing innovate, a creative job and
promotion of fair and dynamic markets. It is extremely important for the administrative bodies
and the Australian federal police to take important initiatives like proper policy, harsh
punishment, greater penalties, as well as the respective organizations to implement strategies to
reduce corruption at both the levels in Australia.

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References
ABC News. 2017. Australia fails to improve ranking in global corruption index. [online]
Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-25/australia-fails-to-improve-ranking-in-
global-corruption-index/8212226 [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017].
(http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-25/australia-fails-to-improve-ranking-in-global-
corruption-index/8212226)
Belasen, A.T. and Toma, R. eds., 2015. Confronting Corruption in Business: Trusted
Leadership, Civic Engagement. Routledge. (https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=QbE0CwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Belasen,+A.T.+and+Toma,+R.+eds.,
+2015.+Confronting+Corruption+in+Business:+Trusted+Leadership,+Civic+Engagement.
+Routledge.&ots=NylcSIFOzX&sig=nlIuSXEW2PF1tJfKc35CjphaL7E#v=onepage&q=Belasen
%2C%20A.T.%20and%20Toma%2C%20R.%20eds.%2C%202015.%20Confronting
%20Corruption%20in%20Business%3A%20Trusted%20Leadership%2C%20Civic
%20Engagement.%20Routledge.&f=false)
Breen, M., Gillanders, R., McNulty, G. and Suzuki, A., 2017. Gender and corruption in
business. The Journal of Development Studies, 53(9), pp.1486-1501. (article provided b1)
Eicher, S. ed., 2016. Corruption in international business: The challenge of cultural and legal
diversity. CRC Press. https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=na8oDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Eicher,+S.+ed.,
+2016.+Corruption+in+international+business:
+The+challenge+of+cultural+and+legal+diversity.+CRC+Press.&ots=Xe3G-
fyNK7&sig=m1ZYOzirtF4f6ocJuseRWCxsOH0#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Haddad, C., 2017. Foreign Direct Investment Regulation, Business Taxes, and Corruption:
Cross-Country Study of Foreign Bank Presence.
Nick McKenzie, R. 2017. Australian companies linked to bribe scandals in Sri Lanka and
Congo. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/australian-companies-linked-to-bribe-scandals-in-sri-lanka-
and-congo-20160823-gqyzlp.html [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017]. (it is a news article)
http://www.smh.com.au/business/australian-companies-linked-to-bribe-scandals-in-sri-lanka-
and-congo-20160823-gqyzlp.html
Watt, B., 2015. Corruption in government and business. Busidate, 23(2), p.5. (It has to be bought
by the student as it is a paid text book)