Military supplier investigated

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CANBERRA, Australia, May 29 (UPI) -- Australian police are investigating Tenix, the country's biggest defense contracting company.

The federal police bribery taskforce is reportedly attempting to determine if the firm offered to underwrite the election campaign of prominent Philippines politician Roilo Golez when he was running for a seat in the Philippines Congress.

Golez was national security adviser to former President Gloria Arroyo but he stepped down from the position to run for Congress, The Canberra Times reported Tuesday.

Golez has stated that in early 2004 at the time of his campaign Tenix offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tenix in 2004 had a contract to supply coast guard vessels to the Philippines and was allegedly lobbying for further business.

Golez told the Times: ''An offer was made to me but I did not accept. I showed disinterest.'' He declined to comment further.

It is a violation under Australian law to proffer money to foreign officials in attempts to gain a business advantage outside of regular commercial and government regulated channels.