Securency, a problematic maker of substrate used in the production of plastic banknotes, and half-owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia, is up for sale. The RBA announced its decision to sell yesterday, and cited the decision of its joint-venture partner, Innovia Films, to sell its own stake as the reason.The Age newspaper reported on the likely sale of Securency last month.The newspaper first reported on the controversies surrounding the marketing and management methods of Securency in May 2009, a topic largely ignored by other media outlets over the following 18 months.Those controversies related to the willingness of select executives of the firm to pay large bribes in a handful of target markets, and for those executives to deceive their own board over the extent of these activities once they became a matter of public interest last year. The funnelling of bribes paid, as well as alleged kick-backs, via tax havens noted for their lax adherence to laws on money-laundering, was another source of embarrassment to the RBA.The matters raised by The Age are the subject of police inquiries in several countries. One recent development includes the arrest, in Britain, of Bill Lowther, deputy chairman of Innovia. No charges followed the arrest.Conventional investment thinking also informs the timing of the sale, with Candover Partners, the private equity firm in the UK that owns Innovia, seeking to rationalise its investments.The RBA carried its half share in Securency on the books at A$49.4 million, the RBA's 2010 annual report shows.Securency had revenue in the last financial year of A$138 million and a pre-tax profit of A$19 million.