The main question I have is, why and how has the AFP decided to go balls deep and execute a search warrant with 10 officers, if the search warrant is in regard to allegations of bribery which would logically be regarding the payment of money to Marius Mihigo.
Everything was done above board/cleared by DLA Piper, as is reported in the AFR article that Tom Richardson wrote (as today's announcement refers to media leaks in Feb 2023, which was Tom Richardson's article in the AFR). It specifically mentions the board consulted the legal firm, and implemented the legal advice, which was to not offer a mix of shares/cash as additional fees.
If we assume today's announcement is the whole truth, and there aren't other elements of corruption/bribery being investigated, I'm just surprised that such a massive undertaking was conducted over something that doesn't seem particularly damning/has been done with legal advice. Maybe someone with experience of such investigations can comment?
I guess my main questions at this stage are:
1. Were the AFP sniffing around before AVZ wrote to them in June, or did AVZ honestly write to them first to get ahead of the ball, and their investigation has resulted from that?
2. Is what has been reported by Tom R in 2023 bribery/corruption if we assume that is the whole truth and if it was done with legal advice and above board? As in, considering all that, is paying a 1 million consultant fee a bribe? If so, what's the difference between a bribe and a consultant fee?
3. Does the AFP have jurisdiction over these things, if it was paid to a foreign consultant? Wouldn't that require a compromising/breaking of the law in both countries and therefore bilateral legal co-operation to investigate? It seems it would affect the DRC far more than Australia in this case.
4. As mentioned in the announcement today, if all throughout the ICISD process and the arbitration processes, as far as we know no evidence has been found or supplied for 'baseless' bribery claims, why would the AFP undertake such a massive operation? And if AVZ have been co-operative from the beginning, why would they need to "raid" the office?
I feel these are all reasonable questions.