The former executive of a listed IT firm in the US is in police custody after an Australian bank uncovered suspicious payments to its staff.
Over $1.5m worth of payments have been frozen and investigated by Australia’s Fraud & Cybercrime squad. It is believed that they may have been paid by the financial services IT company in exchange for a guarantee that the bank would purchase software exclusively from the firm, without putting the contract out to tender.
The FBI has also been approached for details on the American business owner.
“Detectives will allege that two of the bank’s (now former) employees were involved in a corrupt relationship with a now publicly-listed overseas technology provider,” the New South Wales Police said in a statement.
“Police will contend that the managers granted the US-headquartered IT company a lucrative contract without putting it to public tender. In exchange, the managers allegedly received payment.
“The alleged crime came to light after an Australian bank notified police after an internal investigation that “uncovered some suspicious payments that had been deposited into the bank accounts of two of the bank’s senior IT staff, both Sydney-based US nationals”.
Neither the 61-year-old former CEO nor the bank in question have yet been named by police.
