NT ICAC Commissioner Michael Riches was appointed to the role on 6 July 2021 after serving as the South Australian Deputy Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. Photo: ICAC NT.
A fortnight after the estranged wife of Northern Territory ICAC Commissioner Michael Riches claimed he paid her $20,000 to withdraw her domestic violence order (DVO) application, staff from his office have made new allegations regarding “inappropriate behaviour”.
The original claim made by his estranged wife, Jennifer Riches, was revealed in legal documents from May last year, which were seen by the ABC. They showed Mr Riches had agreed to pay her the money and not make any contact for two years as the order threatened his employment with the NT ICAC Office.
According to legal correspondence from Ms Riches’ lawyers, she agreed to the offer following their advice that it was not in her best interests for her husband “to no longer work in his high-paying job”.
Since the allegation was made public, Mr Riches rejected any claims of wrongdoing. The NT ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock SC led an investigation into Ms Riches’ story, finding them “not to be true”.
This week, new information came to light that Mr McClintock has begun another investigation into further allegations by NT ICAC staff of Mr Riches’ “inappropriate behaviour”.
A spokesperson for NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler said the new allegations had been referred to the Commissioner for Public Employment after Mr McClintock found the matter to be “outside the scope of his inquiries”.
In response to an information request from The Australian, Mr Riches said he was unaware of the staff’s allegations, but “if there are human resource matters within my office to be addressed, I want them addressed”.
According to The Australian, during Mr McClintock’s original investigation, he interviewed Mr Riches and NT ICAC staff but not Ms Riches.
Ms Riches told the masthead she did not receive a response after offering to provide more information to Mr McClintock. Ms Riches also claims “highly confidential” medical information in relation to the former couple was obtained by Mr McClintock, but she has not been able to respond or verify it.
Following his investigation, Mr McClintock advised Ms Lawler that while he found Ms Riches’ allegation to be false, Mr McClintock “was not able to make a conclusive determination” in relation to the claims she made of his domestic violence.
Mr McClintock told Ms Lawler that Mr and Ms Riches were both contacted and made submissions to him before he concluded that “none of the allegations made against the Commissioner could constitute corrupt conduct”.
Mr McClintock also informed the Chief Minister that given his investigation’s report contains confidential information concerning the couples’ allegations, legal documents and medical information, “it should not be published”; instead, a summary of Mr McClintock’s findings was provided to the public and Legislative Assembly.
Following the original allegation, Mr Riches took unplanned leave and Naomi Loudon was appointed as Acting ICAC “for an indefinite period”.
In a statement to Sky News published on Tuesday (18 June), Mr Riches provided evidence that on 20 May 2023, he’d immediately reported the DVO application to Mr McClintock and the office of then-Chief Minister Natasha Fyles.
Emails to Mr McClintock from that day show he’d declared that the relationship with his wife had ended on 8 May 2023 and that he’d received a letter from Ms Riches on 19 May “demanding the immediate payment of $30,000 for spousal maintenance”.
Responding to the claim he had set up cameras around their home to monitor Ms Riches, the NT ICAC Commissioner said: “As a part of my appointment, cameras were installed for security purposes. That is what they were used for.
“I never used them for the purposes alleged. While there are a great many things I could say to address those allegations, I do not wish to do so in a way that publicly denigrates my former partner.
“All I will say is that I have a very different perspective on the matters asserted.”
