ServiceMesh founder suspended in Commonwealth Bank bribery probe

THE founder of an IT firm linked to an alleged $2.9m bribery scandal involving CBA has been stood down by his US employer.

The founder of US-based IT company ServiceMesh, which is embroiled in an alleged $2.9 million bribery scandal involving the Commonwealth Bank, has been stood down by his US employer.

US-listed computing giant Computer Sciences Corporation has also launched an investigation into the matter.

CSC, which bought Ser­viceMesh for an estimated $US300m in 2013, said Ser­viceMesh founder Eric Pulier had been suspended from the group while the investigation unfolded.

Mr Pulier could not be reached for comment.

NSW Police allege that senior Commonwealth Bank IT executives Jon Waldron, a 44-year-old New Zealand national, and Keith Hunter, 61, were paid $US2.2m ($2.9m) in kickbacks to deliver ServiceMesh with “tens of millions” of dollars worth of CBA IT contracts. It is alleged the payments were made from ServiceMesh to the CBA executives via a non-charitable organisation set up by Mr Pullier called the ACE Foundation.

CBA’s internal security was tipped off to the alleged fraudulent conduct when a CBA bank account held by Mr Waldron and Mr Hunter received the payments of $2.2m from ACE and a man going by the name of Andrew Goldstein.

NSW Police allege Mr Goldstein shared a common Beverly Hills address with ACE.

Last month Mr Hunter was arrested and charged with bribery offences, before being released on bail.

Last week Mr Waldron returned from the US and handed himself in to police in Sydney.

CBA terminated the employment of the pair in December.