Harrison CJ at CL in NSW Supreme Court:

“[6] The parties are agreed, following the Crown’s successful appeal to the High Court, that the maximum penalty for sequence 3 is $30,391,062…

[42] I propose to allow a discount of 25% for the company’s plea of guilty. I also propose to allow a combined discount of 40% for the company’s past assistance and undertaking to assist in the future. In that respect, I gratefully adopt her Honour’s description of these matters at [191], “which make the present a truly extraordinary case of self-reporting of a practically undetectable crime and the provision of substantial assistance to the investigating and prosecuting authorities, without which it would have been almost impossible to bring either the company or the individual accused … to justice”. That should be understood as a description of the value of the conduct. As I have attempted to make clear, it should not be understood as a matter that counter-balances, far less reduces, the importance of the need for general deterrence.
…
[46] The fine that I would have imposed but for the plea of guilty and discount for assistance is $7,500,000. I allow a discount of 25% for the plea of guilty, with the consequence that the fine is reduced to $5,625,000. Applying the combined discounts of 30% and 10% to that figure produces a result of $3,375,000. That is the fine to be imposed.”

Read the Judgment here.


Background
In August 2023, the High Court of Australia allowed an appeal on penalty from a judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales and remitted the matter to that Court for redetermination. The Court of Criminal Appeal thereafter remitted the matter to Harrison CJ at CL in the NSW Supreme Court for resentencing.

A majority of the High Court held that, on its proper construction, s 70.2(5)(b) required the value of the benefit obtained to be determined as the sum of the amounts in fact received under the contracts secured by the bribery offence. No deduction could properly be made for any costs incurred in performing the contracts. Accordingly, the maximum penalty pursuant to s 70.2(5)(b) was three times the amount received by the respondent, being a total of $30,391,062. The penalty imposed should have been determined by reference to this maximum penalty.

Read the High Court judgment here.