Australian Federal Police have arrested and charged two men with attempting to bribe Sri Lankan government officials with hundreds of thousands of dollars, in order to win multi-million construction project contracts.
The AFP alleges that between 2009 and 2016 the men conspired to arrange the payment of more than AU$304,000 to bribe foreign government officials.
They are reported to have tried to win contracts for the supervision of two infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka worth more than US$8.8 million.
The men were arrested earlier this year and are due to appear in court this week.
“Corruption undermines fair competition and can have disastrous consequences for developing economies, global anti-poverty and development efforts,” said AFP Detective Superintendent Helen Schneider.
“The AFP works to fight bribery and corruption both here and overseas to support ethical business practices, national security and the rule of law.”
See more from the AFP here.