A former chief of Vietnam's central bank linked to Australia notes scandal, with media reports alleging that bribes helped pay for his child's British university education. Melbourne newspaper The Age said polymer notemaker Securency, then partially owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), paid for Vietnamese bank governor Le Duc Thuy's child to attend the University of Durham using a "secret slush fund". Thuy, head of the Vietnamese central bank between 1999 and 2007, is now chair of the National Finance Supervision Council.
Photo by AFP: Le Duc Thuy using an ATM in Hanoi.Securency is embroiled in a long-running investigation into claims its agents offered bribes to officials in countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Nigeria to win contracts. Police arrested several people in Britain, Spain, Australia and Malaysia in raids linked to the investigation last October. Sources told The Age the Securency "slush fund" was established with some of the Aus$15 million ($14.95 million) in commission paid to middleman Anh Ngoc Luong for helping win huge banknote contracts in Vietnam between 2002 and 2009.
Tens of thousands of dollars were paid from the fund towards Thuy's child's studies, The Age said Monday. The claims were also aired Wednesday in the Financial Times. Neither the Reserve Bank of Australia nor Securency chairman Bob Rankin returned AFP's calls for comment. In Vietnam, an official at the National Finance Supervision Council told AFP that Thuy was unavailable for comment.
The Age said Australian police suspected Luong's commissions, paid into Hong Kong and Swiss bank accounts and with the approval of the RBA board, were "diverted to Vietnamese officials or their relatives". Securency executives denied direct involvement in the payment of bribes, The Age said it had been told. The RBA and British-based joint venture partner Innovia Films announced that they were selling Securency last November.
Source: AFP
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