Second former CBA IT exec charged in bribery case

The New South Wales police has charged a second former Commonwealth Bank IT executive for allegedly receiving fraudulent payments.

NSW Police said they were contacted by CBA earlier in 2015 after internal investigations uncovered some suspicious payments had been deposited into the bank accounts of two senior IT staff, both Sydney-based US nationals.

The second IT executive to be charged in the case, a 44-year-old New Zealand citizen based in Sydney, presented at North Sydney Police Station yesterday, the NSW police said. He has been charged with seven counts of agent corruptly receive benefit, involving a total of almost $1.9 million

The man was granted conditional bail to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on 1 May 2015.

The 44-year-old man is the second to be charged in the case. Earlier this month, the NSW Fraud and Cybercrime Squad charged a 61-year-old United States citizen with two counts of bribery.

“In court, police will allege the men – who are no longer employed by the bank – were involved in a corrupt relationship with a now publicly-listed overseas technology provider,” the police said.

“It will be alleged the men granted the US-headquartered IT company a lucrative contract without putting it to public tender. In exchange, the managers allegedly received payment.”

The state’s Fraud & Cybercrime Squad is working with the US FBI on the investigation, which is ongoing.

Adam Bender covers telco and enterprise tech issues for Computerworld and is the author of dystopian sci-fi novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam

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