An Australian man was convicted and fined $1000 by the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday (29 January, 2026) for providing false or misleading information to the directors of a multinational publicly listed company, Leighton Holdings Limited.

At the time of the offending the man was the chief operating officer of Leighton Holdings Limited. In that capacity, he provided misleading information to the board of directors in relation to a multimillion-dollar infrastructure project in Iraq.

In particular, the man provided a cost summary on the project on two separate occasions which failed to accurately allocate $45,000,000 in costs.

Quotes attributable to Australian Federal Police Acting Commander Timothy Underhill:

“Omitting details about the use of agents compromised the integrity of Leighton’s corporate governance because it deprived the directors of the opportunity to ask appropriate questions.

“The International Foreign Bribery Taskforce (IFBT) has published a list of foreign bribery indicators which identifies the use of foreign agents as a potential indicator of international corruption.

“Boards should be notified when foreign agents are being used so that they can ask questions and ensure due diligence has been undertaken.

Read the full media release by the Australian Federal Police.