Two men from Australia were arrested in Sydney for bribing Sri Lankan officials to in order win infrastructure contracts worth 14 million dollars.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) arrested the men, aged 67 and 71, last month after a decade-long investigation spanning several countries.
It is said that the men bribed more than AUD 304,000 ($190,000) to government officials between 2009 and 2016.
The men, aged 67 and 71, worked for a company which has been accused of misconduct in South Asian countries. They will face the court on Tuesday, reports BBC.
The AFP officials added that more arrests and charges are in the offing.
“Corruption undermines fair competition and can have disastrous consequences for developing economies, global anti-poverty and development efforts,” AFP Detective Superintendent Helen Schneider said in a statement.
“The AFP works to fight bribery and corruption both here and overseas to support ethical business practices, national security and the rule of law,” she added.
The AFP’s move follows decades-long investigation into an Australian-based engineering firm, Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) International Pvt Ltd, which involved officials from the US, Canada, India and other countries.
The AFP was assisted from police across South Asia and the FBI.
According to the Sunday Morning Herald, the probe started in September 2013 after World Bank investigators found that SMEC was engaged in suspected “fraud and corruption” regarding a power plant project in Bangladesh in 2007. A year later, the police raided the firm’s Australian headquarters.
SMEC and its and four subsidiaries in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were later barred by the World Bank temporarily in 2017 from bidding for any of its contracts.
SMEC, originally known as Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, was formed in 1949 to build an iconic Australian infrastructure project.
It was privatised in 1993 and has since then become a global engineering giant with 5,400 staff in dozens of countries.
(With inputs from agencies)
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