Corruption suspect's apartment sale under threat as police finally move

The Australian Federal Police has asked the US government to block the sale of a multimillion-dollar New York apartment as part of a long-running and politically sensitive bribery investigation into an Australian mining company.

US court documents reveal that in February, Attorney-General Christian Porter requested American authorities obtain judicial orders to prevent members of the wealthy Gupta family from offloading a $US3.67 million ($5.2 million) condominium apartment in Manhattan’s prestigious Upper West Side.

Attorney-General Christian Porter.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The US court documents provide the first glimpse since 2015 into the federal police’s long-running probe into allegations that mining company Getax bribed multiple senior politicians in Nauru, including members of the current cabinet to monopolise the country’s phosphate supply.

The US documents name Getax director Amit Gupta as the "target of a criminal investigation who is alleged to have conspired with others to bribe foreign public officials and to have engaged in money laundering and other offences".

Getax was an Australian company based on the Gold Coast and the Gupta family lived in Queensland, and also operated in India and Singapore.

The development raises further questions about the Australian Federal Police’s anti-corporate corruption regime which, despite reforms and new laws, has struggled to prosecute Australian companies for allegedly bribing overseas prime ministers, presidents and oil ministers.

No individual from Getax has faced criminal charges in Australia, although the US court action suggests Australian investigators continue to attempt to hold the company to account many years after the bribery allegations first surfaced.

High-profile investigations that remain on the AFP books without a result include the alleged bribery of Iraq’s former oil ministry in 2010 by Leighton Holdings (now CIMIC) and Rio Tinto’s alleged bribery in Guinea, West Africa in 2011.

Both inquiries rely heavily on the co-operation of specialised overseas anti-corruption authorities such as the UK Serious Fraud Office and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, highlighting how Australian investigators and courts remain hamstrung in effectively dealing with complex fraud and bribery matters.

The outcome of the Australian arm of the Getax investigation remains shrouded in secrecy, with a suppression order preventing access to court documents filed in Queensland in January by federal prosecutors and the federal police.

In 2018, Singaporean anti-corruption authorities fined a subsidiary of Getax $80,000 for "corruptly giving $US19,918 to Ryke Solomon, a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Nauru, as an inducement to advance the business interests of Getax Australia".

Australian sources aware of the AFP investigation but who were not authorised to speak on the record said the federal police had carefully managed its investigation into Getax, Operation Zurzach, focusing its resources on the alleged bribe payers rather than the recipients.

"We can’t charge serving overseas politicians," said a senior policing source, who explained that diplomatic considerations were among those taken into account in the police probe. The Australian government has relied on Nauru to run its now mothballed asylum seeker detention centre, and dozens of the centre’s former occupants now live on the island awaiting resettlement.

The investigation into Getax has been running since 2013, most likely costing millions of dollars. In 2015, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald obtained documents under freedom of information laws that revealed police were preparing a brief of evidence over allegations Getax had bribed a number of high-ranked Nauru politicians.

The alleged bribery involved payments and inducements made via Asian bank accounts as part of suspected efforts by Getax to obtain political backing for its phosphate mining operations.

Each year, Australia gives about $25 million in aid to Nauru, making it the Pacific island's most significant donor partner.

One document released in 2015 stated that the likely arrest of Getax directors and alleged involvement of Nauruan officials would require "significant [Australian] ministerial attention".

The files also state that the release of information uncovered during the investigation prior to its completion may risk damaging "the international relations of the Commonwealth".

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