Stephen Sasse also questions the ability of Australian federal police to investigate his claims of alleged foreign bribery

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A former senior executive of Leighton Holdings has given evidence about corruption inside the company he once worked for, saying he has been told by the corporate regulator that it plans to charge one of Leighton’s former finance chiefs over a suspect $15m payment to a Dubai consultant in 2011.

The former executive, Stephen Sasse, also questioned the ability of the Australian federal police investigating his claims of alleged foreign bribery, made in 2012, expressing his frustration that the investigation is ongoing – without anyone having been charged yet.

Senate could investigate foreign bribery claims against Australian corporations Read more

In critical testimony during a Senate hearing on foreign bribery on Friday, Sasse said officials from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission told him last month they plan to charge Peter Gregg – one of Australia’s most senior businessmen – with false accounting offences regarding a $15m payment to a Dubai consultant, Mahesh Khemka, made on Leighton’s behalf in 2011.

“They made that very clear,” Sasse told senators.

“I was told that, yep. That was the reason why they wished for me to sign the affidavit bringing the emails into evidence,” he said, referring to an affidavit he signed at the request of Asic as part of its continuing investigation into Gregg.

Gregg is now chief executive of a listed company called Primary Healthcare.

Sasse told the hearing that he raised concerns with former Leighton executives in 2012 about alleged corruption linked to their company’s foreign operations.

He said some of his information was “without question” handed to Leighton’s board at the time, but there seemed to be a “distinct lack of interest” to pursue the allegations with board members of subsidiary companies overseas.

“I was surprised at the lack of interest, the lack of support, and then eventually the fact that the whole investigative process was shut down,” Sasse told senators.

Allegations of alleged bribery linked to Leighton’s overseas operations first surfaced in 2012, with several former executives resigning in response.

It changed its name to CIMIC Group last year – standing for Construction, Infrastructure, Mining and Concessions – in a bid by its new Spanish owners to distance it from the bribery allegations.

Federal police and Asic are still investigating former Leighton executives over the company’s dealings between 2009 and 2011, with claims of alleged bribery linked to a multimillion-dollar oil pipeline in Iraq.

The evidence comes after Fairfax Media reported it had been given a compulsory order from Asic to hand over files belonging to corrupt Monaco-based firm Unaoil as part of Asic’s investigation into Gregg.

The files reveal millions of dollars of offshore payments by Australian companies, including Leighton Holdings.

The Labor senator Sam Dastyari told Sasse that his evidence on Friday was remarkable.



“What you’re saying is sensational in that it outlines a culture of behaviour and conduct that goes beyond isolated incidences,” Dastyari said.

“It also looks like what you’re saying is at every point of time where you or others tried to raise concerns and address these issues, that you were removed from being able to do so.”

Sasse replied: “I agree. It’s grounds for concerns from a public policy perspective.”

The Senate inquiry into foreign bribery was established in June last year after Dastyari said he had evidence to implicate a number of senior business figures in corrupt behaviour.