WASHINGTON-A $60 million Motorola Inc. emergency radio system contract is at the center of a huge scandal that threatens to take down South Australian government leader John Olsen.
Olsen-according to a letter leaked by a senior bureaucrat and reported by The Australian newspaper-offered to reserve a $60 million emergency radio network contract for Motorola if the Schaumburg, Ill., company located its Australian software facility in Adelaide.
At the time he sent the April 14, 1994, letter to Motorola, Olsen was infrastructure minister. Now, Olsen is the South Australian premier.
As such, there is speculation Olsen may have engineered a quid pro quo with Motorola to help his political run for premier.
Olsen, according to The Australian, claims the Motorola correspondence was not binding because the software facility contract-inked three months after the April letter-included an escape clause.
South Australian political reporter Matthew Abraham wrote last week that “alarm bells began ringing at the highest levels of the Liberal bureaucracy just a day after Mr. Olsen’s contentious letter.”
But the minority opposition party, which accuses Olsen of misleading Parliament after previously denying any link between the software center deal and the Motorola contract, is demanding an independent inquiry.
Olsen is resisting.
The Advertiser, another Australian newspaper, reported that Motorola Australia managing director Ron Nissen, following a meeting with South Australia’s opposition leader, denied any wrongdoing.
“We are naturally very concerned that the politics taking place in Australia has brought our name into the limelight,” said Nissen. “However, we remain completely satisfied that we have operated ethically in all our dealings with the government.”
Nissen, according to the news account, said Motorola’s decision to locate its software facility in Adelaide was due to enticements separate from the $60 million emergency radio contract.
