Outspoken RBA exec 'forced out'

THE whistleblower who exposed alleged corruption in two Reserve Bank companies told five top bank officials of his explosive concerns, only to be later forced out of his job and warned to keep quiet.

The revelations about what the former banknote executive Brian Hood has told federal police investigating the scandal raise serious questions about whether bank officials have risked breaking the law by misleading Parliament, covering up corruption or victimising a whistleblower.
The revelations increase pressure on bank governor Glenn Stevens, and add to calls for a full inquiry into the scandal, which involves allegations that foreign agents paid bribes while working for RBA subsidiaries.
Among evidence gathered by the federal police are documents in which Mr Hood claims that in 2008 - after raising corruption concerns - he was told by a top bank official, Bob Rankin, that his job ''had become untenable''.

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The bank's deputy governor, Ric Battellino, whom Mr Hood personally briefed on the allegedly corrupt agents, allegedly told Mr Hood in 2008 that he should ''never'' again discuss the agent issues.
The sworn statement of the former Note Printing Australia company secretary, tendered in court yesterday, contradicts key parts of Mr Stevens' parliamentary testimony, including the governor's repeated assertion that the RBA did not know of alleged corruption inside NPA's sister company Securency before a 2009 media expose.
Mr Hood's statement reveals that in addition to telling assistant governor Frank Campbell in 2007 about alleged corruption involving both firms, he also shared his concerns with Mr Battellino the bank's chief auditor, Paul Apps, and its in-house lawyer. ''On June 5, 2007, I met with Battellino and Apps at the RBA office in Martin Place, Sydney, and I answered their questions regarding my knowledge of NPA management of agents.
''Mr Battellino then requested I prepare a written statement for the RBA and he then introduced me to Helen Brown (RBA's in-house lawyer) who would assist me.''
The memo Mr Hood wrote in 2007 was addressed to Mr Battellino and, among a range of explosive corruption warnings, including allegations that the ''extraordinarily high'' multimillion-dollar payments being made paid by NPA to a Malaysian agent may have been used to bribe ''officials and politicians''.
The 2007 memo also revealed that the Malaysian agent had lied about the fact that he was working for both Securency and NPA, an allegation Mr Hood repeated in court yesterday.
According to his police statement, Mr Hood was told by Mr Campbell in June 2007 that his corruption memo ''would be read by the deputy governor and perhaps the governor of the
RBA''. Mr Hood allegedly raised fresh corruption concerns involving NPA and Securency several times over the next 12 months, including with senior RBA officials.
His statement says that one of them, Mr Campbell, was ''supportive of my concerns''.
In August 2008, Mr Hood sent an email to Mr Rankin detailing ''some matters and behaviour [about NPA] which I wanted noted and acted upon''.
The matters included Mr Hood's claims that NPA boss and Securency director Chris Ogilvy had ordered Mr Hood to ''compromise'' internal investigations of suspected bribery.
Mr Hood also told Mr Rankin that he was being treated unfairly, with his duties as company secretary substantially reduced and having been offered a smaller pay rise than other senior managers.
Mr Hood's police statement says that after getting this email, Mr Rankin - the then chairman of NPA and Securency - ''came to Melbourne to meet with me''. He had indicated ''my position had become untenable … Rankin confirmed details of a redundancy which I accepted and I left … I therefore believe that my departure from NPA is more accurately described as a redundancy than a resignation, as described in my first [police] statement''.
It is a breach of Australian corporate law to victimise a whistleblower.
Mr Hood's statement also says that he told the AFP that he was ''considering taking action in relation to the circumstances of my departure'' from NPA.
Mr Hood's statement also says that senior RBA officials attended his farewell lunch in Sydney, during which Mr Battellino ''acknowledged my valued contribution''.
Last night, The Age contacted Mr Hood to ask him what ''action'' he had considered taking over his departure, but he declined to comment.
The federal police only learnt of the corruption concerns inside Securency and NPA in 2009, after an expose in The Age newspaper forced the reserve bank to call in the AFP.
Last year, the AFP charged several former executives of NPA and Securency with bribery offences related to business deals in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Nepal.
Mr Stevens has now repeatedly told Federal Parliament's economics committee that the RBA knew nothing about alleged corruption involving Securency before the media reports in 2009.
Mr Stevens has also repeatedly tried to separate the corruption allegations involving NPA and Securency. But Mr Hood told the court yesterday that ''the two businesses worked very closely together'', sharing the same chairman, former RBA deputy governor Graeme Thompson.
Mr Hood's statement also reveals the extent to which some of the RBA appointed directors of both firms, including Mr Thompson, allowed dubious corporate behaviour to continue in the face of warnings.

theage.com.au 14 Sep 2012

A common tactic of the powers at large is that they use intimidation, and the threat of job loss, and career loss to intimidate the whistleblower.

Amongst corrupt government and legal officials cases brought forward before the Anglo-Masonic courts are decided at the lodge level, and the public charade that follows is a mere farce.

Whistleblowers are the true unsung heros exposing corporate and government fraud.