BHP Billiton must move swiftly on potential scam

http://www.theaustralian.com.au


NOW the Big Australian, BHP Billiton, is caught in a potential bribery scam, the message should finally be sinking in to corporate Australia that corporate reputations count and can be trashed in a second.

There is something about asset price bubbles that people can't resist and they risk stepping over the line for the sake of something more.

The fact that the US SEC is actually pursuing claims against big names is something to rejoice in.

Goldman Sachs's behaviour is now being investigated, just as Steve Vizard's share trading in the dot-com boom got him into trouble, just as executives at Coles and Woolies over the years have been caught with their fingers in the till … and the list just goes on.

Just what is behind the BHP news is not clear and just why the world's biggest diversified mining company decided to disclose - at the bottom of a production and development report today - that it got a call from the US SEC last August is frankly bewildering.

We do know the SEC is on the case because BHP is listed in the US, but the possible bribe to a foreign official didn't take place in the US or China, but somewhere in Asia or South America, on a project that is now dead and buried.

It might all come to nothing but, clearly, something has happened for BHP boss Marius Kloppers to slip it out today.

He now faces the task of actually putting into effect all those cosy words chief executives use about corporate ethics and safety but never really do anything about, as staff member after staff member is killed or caught with his or her hands in the till.

The only thing to do is hold the person or people responsible.