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ABC RBA officials reported that Saddam Hussein was keen to adopt Note Printing Australia's polymer bank notes.
A joint Four Corners/Fairfax Media investigation has revealed a company owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made illegal attempts to strike a business deal with brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Secret files show officials from the RBA's Note Printing Australia (NPA) went to Iraq at the height of UN sanctions to discuss the sale of plastic notes to the Iraqi government.
They met with Saddam's brother-in-law, Arshad Yassin, during the trip in 1998.
One of the documents said: "Arshad Yassin [is] extremely influential [and] willing to open all the doors for us. Arshad Yassin is critical as all decision on [the] project will be taken by Saddam Hussein."Â Â
The operation was called Delta Project and the aim was to win a contract that would allow NPA to turn Iraq's paper currency into plastic or polymer bank notes.
"Indications from Arshad Yassin's office are that Saddam Hussein's office has already allocated $US65 million for the total project," RBA officials reported in the document.
"He has confirmed that Saddam Hussein has seen the polymer notes samples and is keen to adopt our product."
The deal was called off six months later after Australian diplomats uncovered the NPA's dealings with the Saddam regime.
The diplomats warned the company may have breached Australia's obligations under international law.
Associate Professor David Chaikin from the University of Sydney says there was a violation of international law and alarm bells should have been sounded "to the highest levels of the bank".
"What was happening is not only in violation of law, but could potentially destroy and undermine the reputation of Note Printing Australia and its owner, the Reserve Bank," he told Four Corners. Â Â
Corruption concerns raised on previous occasions
This is not the first time the RBA has come under scrutiny.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have charged NPA, its sister firm Securency and several of its employees for allegedly paying bribes to public officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam to secure banknote contracts.
It was a practice that alarmed whistleblower Brian Hood, who started working as NPA's company secretary in 2004.
"They [agents] were being paid millions of Australian dollars and again, that didn't seem appropriate given the sort of role that they were playing. It seemed unduly generous and that grabbed my attention right from the start," he said.
Mr Hood raised his concerns with the NPA board in 2006, but the payments continued.
He said he then went to the then RBA deputy governor Ric Battelino in 2007.
"[Mr Battelino] did indicate that my briefing paper perhaps would be shown to the governor," he said
"That was the first time the governor was mentioned and I thought well that's encouraging, it's actually literally got to the top."
Mr Hood said he was confused when RBA governor Glenn Stevens testified at a parliamentary committee that his board did not know about corrupt practices until they were revealed in a Fairfax investigation in 2009.
"I saw that evidence being put to economics committees and I was pretty bewildered. I didn't know what to make of that. It was quite confusing," he said.Â
Mr Hood's claims are supported by a second whistleblower, James Shelton, who worked at Securency.
Mr Shelton said the board members and directors of NPA and Securency, who were aware of corruption-prone business practices, have not been held to account.
"It makes me disappointed again in some of the authorities that are entrusted with enforcing the laws of this country, and that someone can get away with it so blatantly," he said.
The AFP handed its evidence to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
ASIC said in a statement they had reviewed the material and decided not to take the matter further.
The RBA declined to comment. It sold its 50 per cent share in Securency earlier this year.Â
The full story can be seen on Four Corners on Monday 30 September at 8.30pm on ABC1.
Maybe the sanction busting antics of the howard govts wheat deals gave them the nerve to go ahead, there was a definite corrupt culture in the liberal government of the day. 
@lakeland27 wrote:Maybe the sanction busting antics of the howard govts wheat deals gave them the nerve to go ahead, there was a definite corrupt culture in the liberal government of the day.
Sounds about right.. AWB kickbacks (Alexander Downer). I don't remember seemed to be a common answer in that one from people under investigation....the 20 warning cables sent to DFAT that Downer can't remember. We studied that scandal at Uni at the time.
@am*3 wrote:
@lakeland27 wrote:Maybe the sanction busting antics of the howard govts wheat deals gave them the nerve to go ahead, there was a definite corrupt culture in the liberal government of the day.
Sounds about right.. AWB kickbacks (Alexander Downer). I don't remember seemed to be a common answer in that one from people under investigation....the 20 warning cables sent to DFAT that Downer can't remember. We studied that scandal at Uni at the time.
The Federal police were notified and didn't want to know about it.....funny that, I was under the impression their job was corruption and money going into the pockets of enemies of the state.
When caught, stand up infront the the federal government and lie about everything illegal you did or knew about.
Funny how people moan about how society has degreaded and people no longer have respect and how young people have no respect for the law.
When those who are at the top of the country are secretly just as greedy and corrupt, but with good laywers, they are not criminals.
