Via Domainfax:
National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn took a luxury Fiji holiday and a Thermomix arranged through a company under police investigation over accusations it bribed his chief of staff to win contracts from the bank.
Fairfax Media can reveal that the NSW police have uncovered information that Mr Thorburn’s former chief of staff, Rosemary Rogers, organised the trip and a Thermomix kitchen appliance using executive events firm, the Human Group.
Asked about the allegations, NAB on Thursday night confirmed a small number of “inadvertent” breaches of the company’s policies by Mr Thorburn and that he had been cleared of wrongdoing by the bank’s board.
…Detectives are seeking information from NAB about if and when Mr Thorburn reimbursed the Human Group, and the circumstances of the company’s decision to pay for the holiday and kitchen appliance and whether there was any discount. It is possible Mr Thorburn was not aware of the Human Group’s involvement because he may have been misled by someone involved in the transactions.
At Banking Day, Ian Rogers pulls no punches:
A cynical beat up? Or a strategic shakedown of the most vulnerable of Australia’s major banks and its goofy CEO Andrew Thorburn?
This morning Thorburn is waking up to news reports alleging he took a luxury holiday (and a luxury kitchen appliance) arranged through a company now under police investigation over accusations it used bribery to win NAB contracts – a “gotcha” timed to shape the weekend’s mass media as Kenneth Hayne’s industry inquisition reaches its zenith beginning on Monday.
One big bank CEO at least has got to go over the next fortnight to satisfy the public and media clamour, and it’s a congested field. Useless and pathetic on so many measures, the notional elite of Australia’s ruling class may be herding for clean kills of the weakest of the banking leadership class.
The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald have the “exclusive”, long in the planning most likely, that contends Thorburn enjoyed (though not to excess) the fruits of the long alleged corrupt conduct of his principal assistant, Rosemary Rogers.
Look at the bylines: Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker and also Sarah Danckert.
Baker and McKenzie have earned their status as carriers of the consensus assassinations flowing from the work of the Federal Police, the NSW Police (actually cited in their article) and the shadowier facets of Australia’s deep state.
NAB and not just its CEO have been held on the rope all year by the work of Hayne’s commission and not one follower of hearings next week will be able to bear any mutterings alone the line of the bank’s September response: “NAB acknowledges that it is not perfect and, regrettably, mistakes have been made.”
The campaign for reform of NAB has been running all year.
“Andrew Thorburn’s number is up and it’s the entire bank (and not just the job of NAB CEO) that’s in play,” Banking Day argued back in the first week of September. He held on for only nine more weeks.
Personally, I think Ken Henry should also resign.
