The department of home affairs appears to have misled the Senate over controversial contracts it signed with a company linked to a man under investigation for foreign bribery.
In a written response this month, the department told the Senate it had no power to cancel Nauru accommodation contracts with Radiance International Inc – linked to Mozammil (Mozu) Gulamabbas Bhojani, ultimately convicted of bribing politicians on the Pacific island state – but the department’s contracts explicitly allowed it to tear up the contracts for any reason.
“Upon being informed of the bribery charges against Mr Mozu Bhojani in September 2018, the department sought legal advice on the matter,” Home Affairs said. “The department did not have a right to terminate the accommodation agreements with Radiance International Inc.”
However, each of the three contracts the department signed with Radiance International Inc – in total worth more than $30m – had a termination clause which stated: “the department may at any time, by written notice, terminate this agreement or reduce the scope of the services immediately for any reason”.
As revealed by the Guardian in May, the Australian government continued to pay millions of taxpayer dollars to the company even after Bhojani had pleaded guilty to bribing Nauruan government officials, and been handed a suspended jail sentence.
Bhojani and his brother controlled a number of linked companies based across Australia, Nauru, India and the UAE, trading under the banner “Radiance”. His brother is not accused of wrongdoing.
In August 2020, Bhojani was convicted of paying more than $100,000 in bribes to two Nauru government officials, including an MP and government minister, between 2015 and 2017, in return for preferential treatment on phosphate mining contracts for one company in the group, Radiance International Pty Ltd.
But, over the same time, a related company, Radiance International Inc, entered into leasing agreements with the Department of Home Affairs to rent out accommodation blocks and hotels across Nauru to support the Australian government’s offshore processing regime on the island.
The three leasing agreements, entered into in 2014, 2016, and 2018 for different properties across Nauru, were worth more than $30m in total, including a single contract for the Anibare Lodge, in Nauru’s east, for more than $18m.
Clause 14.1 of each of the three contracts gave the department an explicit termination power: “The department may at any time, by written notice, terminate this agreement or reduce the scope of the services immediately for any reason,” the 2018. contract states.
However, the department did not choose to terminate its Radiance contracts, even after it learned that Bhojani was being investigated for foreign bribery, had been charged, or had been convicted and sentenced.
In responses to a Senate estimates question from Labor senator Raff Ciccone over the contracts, the home affairs department said “upon being informed of the bribery charges against Mr Mozu Bhojani in September 2018, the department sought legal advice on the matter.
“The department did not have a right to terminate the accommodation agreements with Radiance International Inc,” it told the Senate in a written response.
The department signed its final contract with Radiance International Inc in August 2018, one month after then home affairs minister Peter Dutton was specifically briefed that Bhojani was under investigation by the Australian Federal police for foreign bribery, and just a month before Bhojani was charged. That contract is signed by Bhojani as a witness, described as a “director or company secretary”.
And the department continued to pay money to Radiance International Inc until June 2023, nearly three years after Bhojani was convicted and handed a suspended jail sentence for the foreign bribery offences.
The department said when it became aware of the bribery allegations against Bhojani in 2018, it contacted Radiance International Inc.
“The department wrote to Radiance International Inc on 20 September 2018 to clarify the role of Mr Mozu Bhojani. The department was informed by Radiance International Inc on 20 September 2018 that Mr Mozu Bhojani was ceasing any involvement with the department in relation to its contracts.”
The department said it “relied on the advice” that Bhojani was no longer involved with the contracts. It said it was told his brother was the sole director of Radiance International Inc.
According to the court judgment sentencing Bhojani for foreign bribery, handed down in August 2020, Bhojani and his brother still jointly controlled the Radiance International group of companies – including Radiance International Inc – nearly two years after Home Affairs says it was assured Bhojani had no involvement in the company.
The Guardian put a series of detailed questions to the home affairs department about the accuracy of its response to Senate estimates.
A spokesperson said “the department has a robust contract management framework across regional processing operations, which has matured over the past decade”.
“The department’s regional processing contract management has been subject to significant external scrutiny and internal review over the lifespan of regional processing arrangements. Where areas for improvement have been identified, the department has taken action to remediate.”
The spokesperson said the home affairs department was “committed to continued transparency and accountability in all its endeavours”.
“Any allegations, accompanied by any relevant evidence, should be referred to the Australian Federal police or the National Anti-Corruption Commission.”
