The Australian court suppression order naming several regional leaders including those from Malaysia does not imply they have been involved in any wrongdoing, said the Australian embassy in Indonesia.

In a statement yesterday, it said the Australian government had obtain the order to protect political figures from “unwarranted innuendo”, regardless of whether persons named in the order had been implicated in the Securency corruption scandal.

“The government considers that the suppression orders remain the best means for protecting the senior political figures from the risk of unwarranted innuendo.

“This is a long-running, complicated case which names a large number of individuals. The naming of such figures in the orders does not imply wrongdoing on their part,” it said.

In the Securency corruption scandal, several executives from two Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) subsidiaries - Securency and Note Printing Australia - have been charged with conspiring to bribe officials in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia in order to secure contracts to supply these countries with polymer banknotes.

The trial is being heard at the Supreme Court of Victoria. The anti-secrecy group Wikileaks later exposed a secret court order dated June 19 that bars any reporting of the proceedings that would implicate a list of regional leaders of corrupt practices.

    

M’sian individuals named

These include any current and former prime ministers of Malaysia, outgoing Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessor Megawati Sukarnoputri, Vietnamese President Truong Tan San, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, among others.

Also barred from being mentioned is the suppression order itself and the affidavit of former Australian ambassador to Asean, Gillian Bird, who is now Australia’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

The order applies throughout Australia, and the Australian media have reported the leak without mentioning what the leak was about. Legal experts have also warned that sharing links to the document on social media could face legal action as well.

Following this, Susilo has demanded Australia to explain why he has been named in the court order and make clear that his and Megawati’s names are “unstained”.

He urged Australia to make its law enforcement process transparent and not issue policies or statements that would raise suspicion about those who are beyond its borders.

“The government stresses that the Indonesian president and the former president are not the subject of the Securency proceedings.

“We take the breach of the suppression orders extremely seriously and we are referring it to the police,” the Australian embassy said in response.