Author: Lewis Winter

On 2 August 2023, the High Court of Australia unanimously allowed an appeal from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and ruled that the meaning of the “value of the benefit” obtained from conduct that constitutes foreign bribery is the gross benefit (as opposed to the net benefit) obtained from the offending.

The Crimes Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Bill 2023 proposes to strengthen Australia’s foreign bribery laws principally by introducing a new absolute liability offence against bodies corporate for “failing to prevent bribery of a foreign public official” by an “associate”.