It all started with a mysterious typed letter in the mail ordering a multi-award-winning investigative journalist to place a coded message in a French newspaper.
Nick McKenzie had no idea his response would lead him to one of the largest international investigations into bribery in the oil industry.
It would uncover a trail of crime and corruption and expose one of the largest family businesses in the world: Unaoil.
Their journey has been archived in the new feature-length documentary ‘Revealed: Bribe Inc.’ that now airs on Stan.
McKenzie told Daily Mail Australia the explosive investigation has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.
“I think it’s something that could be a great movie, because it has the right qualities,” he said.
McKenzie had just helped squash open bribery allegations at Australian engineering giant Leighton Holdings (now CIMC) when he received the letter.
The letter claimed to be from a former Unaoil employee known only as ‘Figaro’ and asked him to place an advertisement, including his email address and the keyword ‘Monte Christo’, in the real estate section of the French newspaper Le Figaro. .
A gripping new feature-length documentary, Revealed: Bribe, Inc., directed by multi-award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie (pictured), is now streaming on Stan.
Armed with 317,000 leaked files, McKenzie and Figaro delved into the shady dealings of the secretive Ahsani family: Ata Ahsani and her children Cyrus and Saman.
“If you want to know the world’s biggest corruption story, hide a secret code in a French newspaper,” McKenzie was told.
McKenzie said he followed the instructions and his incredible journey began.
“If you read it you wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “It’s still the craziest way to get contacted.”
From the outside, the Ahsani family’s Monaco-based company Unaoil had a well-respected reputation, hosting glittering fundraising events and liaising with royalty, politicians and politicians.
The family had created the illusion of being generous and above reproach and had long denied any involvement in corrupt activities.
“On the surface, the Ahsani family seemed like wealthy philanthropists who had been dealing for years with royals, sheikhs and people they should respect and admire,” McKenzie said.
“It was all a facade. I think the more corrupt they became, the more they painted themselves as not corrupt.
“This charity they created and the way they moved in high society in Europe, and especially in Monaco, was all a facade.
Nick McKenzie (pictured) said: “It was a really interesting journalism experience, we spent 18 hours a day basically checking emails.” The whole picture began to be painted.’
“And ultimately they are corporate gangsters.”
He said whistleblower Figaro contacted him because he had “read that I had written about Leighton Holdings and its involvement in alleged corruption”.
“He thought, ‘Who’s going to pay attention to the hidden part of that story, which is the allegation that the briber working for Leighton Holdings was actually Unaoil?'” McKenzie said.
This sparked the largest allegation of bribery and corruption in modern history.
Delving deeper into the businesses of the secretive Ahsani family and armed with 317,000 leaked files, McKenzie and Figaro discovered that Unaoil had paid multimillion-dollar bribes to some of the largest companies in Europe, North America and Australia.
The documentary reveals how McKenzie and Figaro tracked the money trail and pursued the criminals in an exhaustive manhunt that spanned the globe, from Iraq to Monaco, Rome, London, Australia and the United States.
According to thousands of leaked emails, Unaoil ran a vast network of mysterious middlemen with a direct line to oil ministers and officials in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Malaysia, Libya, Kazakhstan and Nigeria.
“Once the data started flowing and once we started document after document, and then a lot more data in hard drive form, then it really opened up,” McKenzie said.
“It was a really interesting journalism experience. We spent 18 hours a day basically checking emails.”
“The whole picture began to be painted.”
“It was extremely exciting because, you know, you felt like you were cracking a code and you felt like you were exposing major, real, genuine corruption.”
‘It remains the largest and most complicated investigation, because there were so many files, so many bribes paid in so many countries.
“I think in the end, the FBI said bribes were paid in as many as 27 countries,” McKenzie said.
The documentary even features a cameo from President-elect Donald Trump.
The investigation eventually involved the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, and sparked a $12 million police investigation as authorities worked tirelessly to bring the Ahsani family to justice.
‘Revealed: Bribery, Inc.’ is the eleventh in the Stan’s Revealed series and the fourth led by McKenzie.
The multiple Walkley Award winner had previously produced Ben Roberts-Smith: Truth On Trial, Trafficked and Amongst Us: Neo Nazi Australia for Stan.
On Tuesday night, McKenzie won three more Walkley Awards, including the coveted Gold Walkley, the highest honor in Australian journalism.
Revealed: Bribery, Inc. now streaming on Stan.