Sheppard Patriarch Embroiled In PNG Corruption Scandal

Former Queensland crown prosecutor Greg Sheppard — the father and financier of Sheppard band members George, Amy and Emma Sheppard — has been entangled in a nascent political corruption scandal in his long-time home of Papua New Guinea after being caught on camera apparently explaining the best way to issue bribes to officials.

In the footage, which aired on SBS in last night's episode of Dateline, Sheppard — along with business partner Harvey Maladina — provides the alleged bribery advice to an undercover operative working for anti-corruption body NGO Global Witness, which has been working to expose corruption in the island state, telling them that "small dribs and drabs is the only way to go" when it comes to paying off politicians.

"If you were to pay seven figures to anybody, the world would fall in on top of you," Sheppard said, with the caveat that he is not actually advising the operative to break the law to begin with:

"I'm approaching it from a lawyer's point of view. I don't want to advise you to do anything illegal."

Regardless, he's forthcoming with apparent advice for aspiring launderers, going on to tell the operative: "It would have to be something that didn't raise suspicion, something that was ostensibly commercial."

"The days of banging a million bucks into this secret numbered account in Singapore [are] over," he said.

Somewhat uncomfortably, the meeting takes a turn for the unexpected when the operative points out a "Gold" record on Sheppard's wall — "Yes, it's not a Gold, it's a Platinum," he corrects — which leads to a rundown of his children's band as well as an in-meeting airing of their hit single Geronimo, with which he fist-pumps along and describes as "catchy as Asian flu".

"I play a very important instrument in the whole thing — it's called the negotiable instrument," Sheppard says in the clip. "I sign all the cheques."

With respect to the wider implications of the filmed meeting, Sheppard has denied any wrongdoing based on the interaction shown in the footage, issuing a statement to Fairfax Media that explains the lawyer is "often approached informally" by non-clients looking for someone with knowledge of and experience in Papua New Guinea.

"My comments on these occasions are by the very nature of the exchange, general, hypothetical and merely descriptive," Sheppard said. "I always assume those who ask me for this kind of information are doing so to broaden their understanding of the issues and practices here under the relevant laws."

Hypothetical or otherwise, anti-corruption campaigners such as Global Witness's Rick Jacobsen believe comments such as those made by Sheppard are harmful to "ordinary Australians and the citizens of impoverished neighbours like Papua New Guinea alike".

"Australians should harbour no illusions that corruption is someone else's problem," Jacobsen told Fairfax Media. "The exposes published ... this week put Australia at the epicentre of regional corruption and money laundering."

"Governments have a responsibility to act, starting with full investigations and appropriate sanctions, and leading to regulatory reforms that increase oversight of high-risk professions," he continued.

If you've got a spare 28 minutes, you can watch the full Dateline video below.