Interpol Vietnam has supported Australian police in investigating a case where an international banknote material supplier has been accused of bribing foreign officials in customer countries.

 

Australian ambassador Allaster Cox revelaed this on the sidelines of the conference of international sponsors in Hanoi Wednesday.

 

In May 2009, Australian Federal Police began investigating the Australian-owned Securency International following allegations that the firm had engaged in the systemic bribery of foreign officials in nearly 30 countries, including Vietnam.  

 

The ambassador said the investigation was still under way, and that so far Australia and Vietnam were yet to make official diplomatic exchanges in the case, except for technical collaboration between the countries’ police forces.

 

Earlier, Pham Anh Tuan, Deputy Chief of the Central Committee for Anti Corruption, had said that Vietnamese investigators were also working with Swedish justice officials in pursuing graft charges related to the scandal.

 

The case has prompted police in Securency’s custom countries like England, Malaysia and Sweden to launch investigations and several arrests have been made.