The US court documents provide the first glimpse since 2015 into the federal police’s long-running probe into allegations that mining company Getax bribed multiple senior politicians in Nauru,including members of the current cabinet to monopolise the country’s phosphate supply.
The US documents name Getax director Amit Gupta as the"target of a criminal investigation who is alleged to have conspired with others to bribe foreign public officials and to have engaged in money laundering and other offences".
Getax was an Australian company based on the Gold Coast and the Gupta family lived in Queensland,and also operated in India and Singapore.
The development raises further questions about the Australian Federal Police’s anti-corporate corruption regime which,despite reforms and new laws,has struggled to prosecute Australian companies for allegedly bribing overseas prime ministers,presidents and oil ministers.
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No individual from Getax has faced criminal charges in Australia,although the US court action suggests Australian investigators continue to attempt to hold the company to account many years after the bribery allegations first surfaced.
High-profile investigations that remain on the AFP books without a result include thealleged bribery of Iraq’s former oil ministry in 2010 by Leighton Holdings (now CIMIC) and Rio Tinto’salleged bribery in Guinea,West Africa in 2011.