The Australian government obtained a super-injunction gagging its media from reporting on a multi-million ringgit corruptio case involving top leaders from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), according to whistleblowing site WikiLeaks.
The WikiLeaks press release describes an “unprecedented” issuance of a suppression order by the Australian Supreme Court in Melbourne to cover up details of a corruption case implicating the RBA and 17 individuals, including “any current or former Prime Minister of Malaysia”, “Truong Tan San, currently President of Vietnam”, “Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (also known as SBY), currently President of Indonesia (since 2004)”, “Megawati Sukarnoputri (also known as Mega), a former President of Indonesia (2001–2004) and current leader of the PDI-P political party” and 14 other senior officials and relatives from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The case revolves around long-standing allegations of bribery involving RBA subsidiary Securency and Note Printing Asutralia while it was trying to obtain contracts to supply polymer bank notes – such as the RM5 notes currently in circulation in Malaysia – from the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The Supreme Court suppression order also deftly covered itself, by banning the publication of the contents of the order itself, as well as an affidavit affirmed last month by the Australia’s representative to Asean, Gillian Bird.
This effectively killed all coverage on the case in Australia and the region, The Malay Mail reports.
The RBA polymer note deal has courted allegations of bribery and foul play since 2003, when Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was Prime Minister.
It was alleged that RBA agents offered RM100 million in offers to land the contract.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission launched an investigation into the case in 2009, which resulted in the arrests of eight people, including news
six former senior executives from the RBA units and an ex-assistant governor of Bank Negara Malaysia.
Abdullah previously categorised the allegations against him as unsubstantiated and false.
