Former chief of foreign aid contractor acquitted of bribery blasts police over investigation

In 2018, Australian federal police charged consulting firm Sinclair Knight Merz, a political donor and frequent contractor for the foreign affairs department, with bribing officials in south-east Asia to obtain work across almost a decade.

The company, since acquired by Californian consulting giant Jacobs, pleaded guilty and was fined more than $1.4m in the New South Wales supreme court last year.

It was the first time a foreign bribery case had gone to trial. The case focused only on the allegations related to bribery in the Philippines.

A jury took two days to acquit them and commonwealth prosecutors subsequently dropped plans for a second trial over the Vietnam bribery allegations. Suppression orders that had blocked reporting of details of the case were lifted this week.

The AFP declined to comment.