ASIC is in full ‘fire control’ mode, as a result of its astonishing failure — begging the question of complicity — in the RBA corruption scandal.
But it seems many just aren’t buying their lines:
Tag Archives: NPA
RBA “A Culture Of Systemic Lying And Greed”
1 OctCross-posted from Macro Business:
It is one of the more weird characteristics of Australian economic commentary that the Reserve Bank of Australia enjoys an untouchable position. Bank economists and economic observers all hold the central bank in very high esteem, to the point where it is borderline criminal to question the monetary authority.
The reason for this is pretty straight forward. The world of employed economists in Australia is very small and you don’t want to be marked as a trouble maker if you intend, as many do, to move between public and private offices over your career.
Which brings me to last night’s Four Corners episode that recounts the allegedly corrupt histories of the RBA subsidiaries, Securency and Note Printing Australia, as well as at the bank itself.
If you missed the program I suggest you set aside 45 minutes to watch it in the near future. It is here. I’ve been aware of most of the allegations for years but to see the entire story told from beginning to end is really something else. It is shocking.
The program describes a culture of systemic lying and greed, of economics without ethics, of total failures of governance, of group think and entitlement throughout the elite levels of the RBA’s subsidiaries and perhaps at the bank as well. I have had my faith in the institution shattered and only a full and open inquiry has any hope of restoring it.
I have no idea if anything will come of the investigation. Probably not. But the stain upon the Reserve Bank of Australia will thus be all the more indelible.
Good.
It is this blogger’s fervent hope that this scandal will prompt many more people to begin to ask questions about the RBA.
Leading, most importantly, to the question of why we permit it to exist at all.
More Proof That RBA Governor Stevens Is A Liar
6 Oct
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens is a frequent target for criticism here:
Stevens’ Nonchalance ‘Stunning’
And the RBA more generally is also a favourite target:
RBA Officials Have A Vested Interest In The Fate Of Aussie Real Estate
In our most recent flame on the RBA Governor ( “Final Proof That RBA Governor Glenn Stevens Is Either A Liar, Or A Blithering Idiot” ), we saw how Stevens lied about economists failing to predict the GFC. In a speech at a fancy dinner, at the peak of the GFC. While celebrating his $234,000 p.a. pay rise.
Now, we learn that Stevens lied about RBA officials’ knowledge of corruption in their own ranks.
From The Age:
Some of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s most senior officials were involved in covering up extensive evidence of corruption inside the central bank’s subsidiaries, Note Printing Australia and Securency.
An investigation by The Age has found top RBA officials suppressed damaging information in 2007 and 2008 about the payment of secret commissions to middlemen hired by the RBA firms to win banknote contracts in Nepal and Malaysia.
Among the officials who knew of the serious corruption concerns are deputy governor Ric Battellino, former deputy governor Graeme Thompson and former Note Printing Australia boss Chris Ogilvy…
The evidence of the cover-ups is contained in internal documents from the RBA and the banknote firms, including many seized by the federal police after executing search warrants.
The documents challenge RBA governor Glenn Stevens’s statement to a federal parliamentary committee in February that ”no one in the Reserve Bank or on our board” knew of corruption allegations involving Securency and NPA before The Age revealed them in May 2009.
And we the taxpayers are (given no choice in) paying this bloke over $1 million per annum.
I’ve said it before.
It bears repeating.
Abolish. The. RBA.
h/t Twitter user MsMonneypenny
Barnaby Is Right 
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