Labor will set up a parliamentary inquiry to grill corporate executives and law enforcement agencies over foreign corruption allegations.

Some of Australia’s top business figures are expected to be called before the Senate inquiry, which is expected to be created with support from the Greens and several crossbenchers.

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Labor senator Sam Dastyari used parliamentary privilege on Thursday evening to air corruption allegations against former executives of Leighton Holdings.

Senator Dastyari claims he has several documents provided by whistleblowers that outline alleged corruption by Leighton Holdings, relating to bribes in Indonesia and India.
 He names several officials involved in the alleged bribery.

“I intend to use every power available to me through the Australian Senate to ensure that the allegations of corrupt behaviour by Leighton Holdings are properly aired,” he told parliament.

“This is not simply a witch-hunt or a look at Leighton Holdings, this will be a broader look at the larger issue of foreign corrupt practices and the failure of Australian law.”

Senator Dastyari also wants to investigate allegations of BHP bribing Chinese officials in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics.
 He believes Australian law enforcement is not equipped to deal with these types of bribery allegations and has a poor record of successful prosecutions.

“Australia urgently needs to reform both its legislative framework and its approach to enforcement,” he said.

The Economics References Committee is currently investigating corporate tax evasion and wouldn’t carry out the foreign corruption inquiry until that work is completed.