Bribery case involving Vietnamese spy dismissed
Case dropped: Vietnamese Intelligence officer Colonel Anh Ngoc Luong.
THE bribery case over banknote deals brokered by a Vietnamese spy colonel has been dismissed.
There was insufficient evidence to commit the case to trial, Magistrate Phillip Goldberg told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, dismissing some of the first charges to be laid under anti-foreign bribery laws introduced in Australia in 1999.
Commonwealth prosecutors can still choose to present directly the charges to the Supreme or County courts and Mr Goldberg has yet to consider the charges relating to deals in Malaysia and Indonesia.
He dismissed charges relating to Vietnam in which prosecutors had argued that three former executives of Reserve Bank of Australia company Securency had conspired to provide illegitimate benefits to Vietnamese officials to influence their decision to award banknote contracts worth about $184 million.
The deals were brokered by Securency's agent in Vietnam, intelligence officer Colonel Anh Ngoc Luong, who had an affair with former senior Australian trade commissioner Elizabeth Masamune.
The prosecution case, which was built on circumstantial evidence, alleged that Colonel Anh's commission rates of between 7 per cent and 10 per cent were excessive and contributed to the overall impression of corruption. But no charges were laid over bribes in the form of money and Mr Goldberg said there was no evidence of any monetary bribes.
The prosecution alleged the conspiracy to bribe included paying for the travel and accommodation of Vietnamese bank officials at currency conferences in Mexico, Brazil and Britain, and Securency helping to arrange a paid place for the Vietnamese state bank governor's son at Durham University in England.
But Mr Goldberg on Tuesday said a jury would be unable to convict the accused on the evidence before him. In relation to Vietnam, he dismissed conspiracy to bribe charges against former Securency managing director Myles Curtis and former sales executives Ron Marchant and Clifford Gerathy, saying: ''The prosecution are unable to satisfy a jury beyond reasonable doubt. The evidence - at best - is not of sufficient weight.''
Defence lawyers had argued that companies dealing with the Vietnamese state were expected to cover costs, such as travel to trade conferences, but that this was not corrupt.
Mr Goldberg said charges relating to the university place could not stand alone and there was "no evidentiary basis" for the prosecution's argument that the Australian government's overseas trade agency had provided a "cover of legitimacy" for deals made with Colonel Anh.
The committal continues. Proceedings on charges for Malaysian and Indonesian deals were adjourned until February.
Mr Marchant had all charges dismissed but charges remain for seven accused.