AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Tobin Meagher, David Benson, Tessa Trend and William Stefanidis, Clayton Utz
be made by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) in relation to Common - wealth offences, including bribery offences. 1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation As discussed later in this chapter, on 8 Septem - ber 2024, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Act 2024 (Cth) (the “Combatting Foreign Bribery Act”) came into force. It broadened the foreign bribery offence (including extending the offence to include candidates for office, and bribery conducted to obtain a personal advantage), replaced the requirement that a benefit or business advan - tage be “not legitimately due” with the concept of “improperly influencing” a foreign official, and introduced an offence of failing to prevent for - eign bribery by an associate (see 2.1 Bribery ). It also amended the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) to preserve the existing rule prohibit - ing a person from claiming a bribe to a foreign official as a deduction. Prior to this, there were several noteworthy amendments to Australia’s anti-bribery and cor - ruption laws including: • in November 2015, Schedule 2 of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Act 2015 (Cth) amended the foreign bribery offence to clarify that it is not necessary to prove: (a) an intention to bribe a particular foreign public official; or (b) that any business or business advantage was actually obtained or retained as a result of the bribery; and • in February 2016, two important new offences were introduced into the Criminal Code in relation to false dealings with accounting documents, to aid enforcement of bribery
and corruption, and anti-money laundering, offences. Significant reforms to Australia’s whistle-blower protection laws came into force in July 2019 pursuant to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019 (Cth): see 6.4 Protections Afforded to Whistle- Blowers . Serious corruption is now also specifically target - ed under Australia’s thematic sanctions frame - work. In December 2021, amendments to the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 (Cth) allowed the Commonwealth government to impose eco - nomic, financial and trade restrictions on indi - viduals who have engaged in situations of grave international concern, including those respon - sible for, or complicit in, serious corruption. A current Senate Inquiry into Australia’s sanctions regime (due to report by February 2025) is also considering how it can better align with existing anti-corruption measures, and better target Aus - tralians involved in designated actions. 2. Bribery and Corruption Elements 2.1 Bribery Domestic Bribery Section 141.1(1) of the Criminal Code provides that it is an offence for a person to: dishonestly provide, offer or cause to be provided or offered a benefit to another person with the intention of influencing a Commonwealth public official in the exercise of their duties. “Benefit” is broadly defined to include any advan - tage, and is not limited to money or property, and “Commonwealth public official” includes all employees of the Commonwealth and any Com - monwealth authority.
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