<p>Securency International, which produces polymer banknotes, is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police over whether its agents paid kickbacks to foreign government officials.<br /><br />Police did not specify the countries involved but they are believed to include Nigeria, Malaysia and Vietnam.<br /><br />"We treat foreign bribe matters extremely seriously," a police spokeswoman said, adding that she was unable to discuss ongoing investigations.<br /><br />The latest allegations come from an unnamed witness to the police probe, a former employee of Securency, who told journalists he kept a diary of instances of apparent misconduct.<br /><br />On one occasion in 2007, a middleman hired by Securency told him he was going to bribe a central bank governor from an unnamed Asian country.<br /><br />The following year the witness says a Securency colleague told him the company paid very high commissions to middlemen in Nigeria to ensure a contract to produce the country's polymer banknotes.<br /><br />In another incident, a senior Securency manager told him to organise a female Asian "bodyguard", understood as a prostitute, for the deputy governor of a foreign central bank next time he visited Melbourne.</p>
<p>Securency International, which produces polymer banknotes, is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police over whether its agents paid kickbacks to foreign government officials.<br /><br />Police did not specify the countries involved but they are believed to include Nigeria, Malaysia and Vietnam.<br /><br />"We treat foreign bribe matters extremely seriously," a police spokeswoman said, adding that she was unable to discuss ongoing investigations.<br /><br />The latest allegations come from an unnamed witness to the police probe, a former employee of Securency, who told journalists he kept a diary of instances of apparent misconduct.<br /><br />On one occasion in 2007, a middleman hired by Securency told him he was going to bribe a central bank governor from an unnamed Asian country.<br /><br />The following year the witness says a Securency colleague told him the company paid very high commissions to middlemen in Nigeria to ensure a contract to produce the country's polymer banknotes.<br /><br />In another incident, a senior Securency manager told him to organise a female Asian "bodyguard", understood as a prostitute, for the deputy governor of a foreign central bank next time he visited Melbourne.</p>