Former Currency Manufacturer Manager Convicted and Sentenced In UK For Making Corrupt Payments

Australian Federal Police Peter Chapman Securency

On May 11, following a five-week trial in a London court, a former manager of Securency PTY Ltd (Securency) was convicted of four counts of making corrupt payments to a foreign official in violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.  Peter Chapman, the former manager of the polymer banknote manufacturer’s Africa office, was acquitted on two other counts.   Chapman was convicted of bribing an agent of Nigerian Security Printing and Mining PLC in order to secure contracts for the purchase of reams of polymer substrate from Securency.  The total amount of bribes to the agent equaled approximately $205,000.  On May 12, he was sentenced to two and a half years (30 months on each convicted count, to be served concurrently). The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecuted the case following a joint investigation by the SFO and the Australian Federal Police, which initiated the investigation in May 2009.