Personalised plates boss convicted over corruption charges

THE firm which produces the state's personalised vehicle number plates has been taken over by a company accused of entering into corrupt practices with the former Mubarak government in Egypt.

The NSW government admits it has sought assurances from the number plate company Licensys that the allegations against its parent German firm, Utsch, are untrue. Licensys bought the rights to the Roads and Traffic Authority's special number plates section when it was privatised by the former government in October. But the firm was bought out in June for a rumoured $40 million by the world's largest numberplate manufacturer, Utsch.

Utsch's chief executive Helmut Jungbluth was convicted by an Egyptian court and sentenced in absentia to a year's jail earlier this year over a contract with the former Mubarak government.

A former Egyptian prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, and two ex-ministers have been convicted in Cairo with illegal profiteering and corruption over the contract to Utsch.

Cairo prosecutors claimed the contract price for the metal plates for Egyptian cars and the system to print them was inflated and the tendering process was corrupted so the officials could obtain kickbacks. But Mr Jungbluth has strongly denied the claims, saying that: "To our knowledge, all requirements of Egyptian law were observed ... the contract price matched the market level."

Now, in an answer to a question on notice from upper house Labor MP Walt Secord, Roads Minister Duncan Gay has revealed that on July 18 the RTA wrote to Licensys chief executive Andy Olsson "asking for further details regarding the published allegations against Utsch and Mr Jungbluth".