The chief executive of billion-dollar fleet-management company Orix has been charged with paying corrupt commissions to an employee of beverage giant Coca-Cola Amatil.
In one of the biggest corporate scandals to hit Australia, police will allege Orix boss John Carter, 53, made corrupt payments of $504,000 to Coca-Cola Amatil's fleet manager in exchange for vehicle leasing contracts.
Police told Fairfax Media they believe the scandal is far wider, possibly involving millions of dollars and years of corruption, and they are urging people to come forward with information.
Mr Carter was taken from his Vaucluse mansion to North Sydney police station at 10am on Thursday and charged with four counts of paying corrupt commissions and one count of money laundering.
The senior Orix manager who allegedly made the payments and the Coca-Cola fleet manager who allegedly accepted the corrupt payments were arrested a week ago.
Police allege Mr Carter was aware of four large deposits paid to the Coca-Cola fleet manager and allegedly advised his senior manager, a 58 year-old Illawong man, on how to make the payments.
The deposits were allegedly made between June 2014 and February 2015 into a secret bank account specifically set up for the scheme.
Police will allege the money was subsequently laundered by the Coca-Cola fleet manager, a 61-year-old Adelaide man who was arrested in his office at the company's Macquarie Park headquarters on March 25.
He is responsible for managing Coca-Cola's vast fleet contract, valued at more than $30 million a year, police said.
Coca-Cola tipped police off last year after noticing suspicious activity relating to its vehicle fleet. Last week, a spokesman said the multinational company was "providing its complete co-operation and support to the police".
Fraud and Cybercrime Squad investigators have seized hundreds of documents from the offices of Orix and Coca-Cola as well as the homes of the men arrested.
They are looking into further payments totalling millions of dollars and dating back several years, a police spokesman said.
Fraud and Cybercrime Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis, vowed to pursue any person suspected of being involved in corrupt business practices in NSW.
"White-collar crime – and in particular, employee-related fraud – costs the NSW economy millions of dollars," he said.
Mr Carter, a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, has risen the ranks within Orix Australia since its foundation in 1986 and has been in management circles for 24 years.
The public company employs 300 staff and owns or manages assets worth $1.2 billion, its website says. It is ranked 877 out of the top 2000 companies in Australia and generated a revenue of $372 million last year.
Orix Australia is part of the Orix Group, the largest fleet management group in the Asia Pacific with 1100 offices and 800,000 assets under lease and management.
Mr Carter and his wife have lived in Vaucluse since buying their Vaucluse Road mansion for $2.75 million more than a decade ago.
His bio appeared to have been pulled down from Orix's website on Thursday.
All three men were granted conditional bail by police to appear in the Downing Centre Court later in April and May.
rolding@fairfaxmedia.com.au
