Crane & Co, a US supplier of paper used for printing banknotes, recently decided to pull out of talks over the acquisition a Securency, a maker of plastic substrate for banknotes half-owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia.The RBA (through its subsidiary Note Printing Australia) and its partner, Innovia Films of Britain, are seeking a buyer for Securency. The firm has been dogged by two years of inquiries into the bribes allegedly paid by management to agents and decision makers involved with sourcing the printing of banknotes at central banks in several countries.The US firm conducted due diligence over several months but aborted the talks in light of the cloud over the company arising from the criminal allegations against the firm, The Age reports.The newspaper also reported that in the Magistrates Court in Melbourne yesterday Securency and Note Printing Australia (which is 100 per cent owned by the RBA) agreed to accept a "plea brief" from the Australian Federal Police in relation to charges the companies conspired to bribe officials in Indonesia and Malaysia in order to obtain a business advantage.The willingness to accept the plea brief appears to confirm a report in the newspaper yesterday that both companies intend to plead guilty to the bribery charges at a later date.