By James Massola, Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker
The Turnbull government is to crack down on corrupt company executives, handing the Australian Federal Police a $15 million boost to expand its foreign bribery investigation teams.
The funds will be used to investigate allegations that Leighton Holdings executives were involved in paying bribes via an intermediary, Unaoil - revealed by Fairfax Media - and to help examine the 800 Australians identified in the Panama Papers as using the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which created tax-shielding shell companies on an industrial scale.
The funding boost is another sign the federal government is determined to tackle bribery, corruption and bad behaviour in the corporate world and not just in unions and on building sites.
It comes days after Treasurer Scott Morrison announced that banks would pay an additional $121 million to boost funding to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. The moves will help blunt Labor's attack on the Turnbull government as a friend of big business and the rich that will deliver an unfair budget.
Malcolm Turnbull: ''My government will be relentless in its efforts to stamp out corruption.'' Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten again traded blows on Friday over the May 3 budget, with Mr Shorten drawing a sharp distinction between Labor's plans for "fair" budget repair on that would put people first and adequately fund schools, hospitals and other services.
But Mr Turnbull promised "a prudent budget, living within our means. It will be fair. People will look at that budget and they'll say this is a fair budget." Another pre-budget announcement is expected on Sunday from Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison that targets fairness.
The $15 million boost will fund three new foreign bribery investigation teams - 26 new positions in total - within the multi-agency Fraud and Anti-Corruption Centre. Additional investigators, forensic accountants and litigators will be hired, with the cost covered by the confiscated proceeds of crime.
"The power of this multi-agency approach has been underscored by the ATO's recent success in identifying more than 800 Australian names in the Panama Papers and matching about 80 of those names to the ACC's serious and organised crime intelligence data base," Mr Turnbull said.
Former Leighton executive Stephen Sasse gives evidence at a hearing into corporate foreign bribery.Credit: Ben Rushton
"This breakthrough led to an urgent meeting of eight agencies on 12 April to co-ordinate our whole of government response, which will include investigations of suspected tax evasion and other serious financial crimes.
"My government will be relentless in its efforts to stamp out corruption - wherever it occurs."
The boost in resources comes as a former senior Leighton Holdings executive, Stephen Sasse, gave damning testimony about corruption within the company's offshore arm to a Senate hearing on Friday and cast serious doubt over the federal police's ability to investigate foreign bribery.
Mr Sasse revealed the ASIC had told him it intended to charge one of Australia's most senior businessmen, Peter Gregg, with false accounting offences over a suspect $15 million payment while he served as Leighton's finance chief.ASIC has seized files belonging to the corrupt Monaco-based oil industry firm Unaoil as part of its criminal investigation into leading Australian executives including Peter Gregg.
The corporate regulator served Fairfax Media with a compulsory order to hand over the Unaoil files, which detail millions of dollars of offshore payments by Australian companies, including Leighton Holdings.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan said that while Australia was consistently ranked one of the world's least corrupt countries, "the Coalition is committed to ensuring we do not become complacent".
"We have strong laws to prevent corrupt activity involving Australians overseas," he said. "These offences carry penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment and fines of up to $1.8 million for individuals and $18 million for corporations. We won't stop there. Taking action against bribery and corporate corruption is an ongoing task."