An investigation by Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) has found a former project manager in the Department of Education and Training misused his position by sourcing IT contractors from a company he owned.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich (pictured) said the investigation, Operation Betka, found that the project manager failed to manage a conflict of interest when his company provided almost $14 million in contracted staffing resources to the Department between 2003 and 2016.
“The manager was able to bypass proper processes in order to obtain an unfair advantage for his company, which disadvantaged competing IT suppliers but benefited him,” Commissioner Redlich said.
“The Victorian community rightly expects public sector employees to always perform their duties with integrity and impartiality,” he said.
Commissioner Redlich said the investigation exposed significant organisational failings in how conflicts of interest were managed by the Department and provided a timely alert to every Victorian public sector Agency of the corruption risks posed by the mismanagement of conflicts of interest.
“Operation Betka found the failures of those supervising this project manager were striking,” he said.
“Managers were aware of the project manager’s conflict of interest yet they failed to take meaningful steps to remove that conflict or to effectively manage his conduct.”
He said the Department had since taken steps to strengthen how conflicts of interest were identified, recorded and managed.
Commissioner Redlich said the vulnerabilities highlighted in this investigation were not unique to the Department of Education and Training.
“I encourage all public sector agencies to read this report and review their internal systems, processes and controls around managing conflicts of interest, and particularly around appointing contractors,” he said.
IBAC’s 34-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
