Charges dropped against executives in corporate kickback scandal

Corruption charges against executives at the centre of one of Australia's biggest corporate scandals have been dropped after serious disclosure issues emerged in the prosecution case just one week into a 13-week trial.

John Joseph Carter, the former chief executive of billion-dollar fleet management company ORIX, and his fellow executive George Georgiou were accused of making corrupt payments worth $504,990 to a Coca-Cola Amatil employee in exchange for vehicle leasing contracts. Coca-Cola Amatil's fleet manager Bryan Pereira was convicted of corruption charges in 2017 and jailed for a minimum four years.

Former Orix executive George Georgiou leaving the NSW District Court after charges against him were dropped.Credit: Dean Sewell

But Crown prosecutor Andrew Isaacs raised concerns about the police investigation in a pre-trial examination of the evidence last week, after the officer-in-charge conceded that she had not disclosed the existence of a registered informant and had thrown away the original signed statement of a key witness. That statement included footnotes and references that did not appear in the final version, which meant the defence did not have access to the information that informed the prosecution case.

"Three things have fallen from this witness that cause me some anxiety," Mr Isaacs told Judge Deborah Sweeney.

The court also heard that police relied on law firm Clayton Utz to uncover some of the evidence it would rely upon at trial, though Clayton Utz was performing its own investigation under its retainer with ORIX. Detective Senior Constable Tracey Williams confirmed that police officers never accessed the electronic data they seized from ORIX in March 2015, but got ORIX to agree to forward them any material relevant to the complaints against Mr Carter and Mr Georgiou.

"So in essence, you set up a scenario where you were unable to assess for yourself whether ORIX the organisation was a suspect in these matters. What do you say to that?" Mr Georgiou's barrister, Phillip English, put to Detective Williams.

Former ORIX chief executive John Carter, right, and his barrister Matthew Johnston leave court on Monday after charges against him were dropped.Credit: Dean Sewell

Detective Williams replied: "I disagree. We had information from other sources as well and ... there was no point in time where we believed that we weren't being provided with the information we had requested."

After the Crown signalled on Friday that it intended to no bill the charges, Mr Carter and Mr Georgiou were visibly relaxed as they stepped into the dock for the last time on Monday morning, while their legal teams passed banter as they waited for Judge Sweeney to appear.

Mr Isaacs informed Judge Sweeney that there would be no further proceedings on all counts - 10 counts against Mr Georgiou of corruptly offering a payment and six of the same against Mr Carter and one of obtaining a financial advantage. The men were then immediately released from the chamber to embrace and shake hands with their representatives and supporters.

Mr Georgiou offered his hand to Mr Isaacs, who turned it down. "That would be inappropriate," Mr Isaacs said.

"We're all ecstatic," Mr Georgiou said outside the court. "We're going to go and celebrate somewhere."

Mr Georgiou's solicitor, Lauren MacDougall, said although he was pleased to have been vindicated he had to endure 4.5 years of the "stigma of being an accused person caught up in the criminal justice system".

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and NSW Police declined to comment.

When Mr Carter was charged, police claimed their arrests were indicative of their tough line on corporate crime, with white collar crime costing the NSW economy millions of dollars.

As chief executive of ORIX's Australian operation, Mr Carter was responsible for 300 staff and managing more than $1.2 billion in assets. He had been with the company since it was founded in Australia in 1986. He declined to comment as he left court on Monday, though he offered a grin. His wife had watched as the charges were withdrawn, weeping.