Singtel-Optus political donations in Australia may have breached Singapore's corruption prevention laws - donations (which may be in breach of Australia's ban on foreign donations ) coincided with the award of a lucrative government contract

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

      

                                         The agency is Services NSW, which was under the purview of Berejiklian ally
Victor Dominello

 The Prevention Of Corruption Act  1960 has extra-territorial powers to deal with corrupt acts committed by a Singapore citizen outside Singapore as though these were committed in Singapore.

Singapore incorporated companies, like Singtel,  come within the definition of persons to whom the Act applies. Wholly-owned subsidiaries like Optus are likely to be considered part of the Singapore incorporated entity, given the degree of control exerted over the subsidiary. 

In August 2022 The Australian reported that Optus had won a three-year contract to manage the inbound services business for Service NSW. The Minister in charge of that agency was Victor Dominello,  a close ally of former premier turned Optus  director Gladys Berejiklian. Berejiklian's appointment to Optus is controversial, given that she was appointed after she had  resigned as premier due to a corruption investigation. 

The awarding of government contracts between entities where political allies have influence is in itself suspicious, but making matters worse in this case is the recent revelation by The Klaxon  that Optus has made some AUD 70,000 in illegal political donations, 90% of which after Berejiklian's appointment. The illegality arises from the fact that Australia bans political donations from foreign entities.

There is a coincidence between the donations (which are likely illegal) and the award of that (already suspicious) contract which the Singapore authorities must investigate, pursuant to their corruption prevention laws, given what appears to be a breach of their laws. The fact that this  case involves government owned entities and political personalties should not stand in the way of the Singapore Government's commitment to prevent corruption.

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