CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION – VICTORIA

Dozens more charged over alleged bribes-for-registration scheme

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Original article by Lachlan Johnston
The Age – Page: Online : 24-Jan-25

Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission announced on Thursday that it had charged another 28 people as part of its investigation into allegations that employees at the Victorian Building Authority took bribes to register builders. IBAC stated that the 28 people charged are on top of six people that were charged in 2024 as part of Operation Perseus, with two of the six people charged then being VBA staff. The Victorian government in March 2024 removed the board of the VBA and made CEO Anna Cronin its sole commissioner, with the VBA’s operations having been under scrutiny since the 2022 suicide of building inspector Rob Karkut

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VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, VICTORIAN BUILDING AUTHORITY

‘Crooked’: Integrity experts slam Andrews for downplaying IBAC report

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Original article by Chip Le Grand, Sumeyya Ilanbey
The Age – Page: Online : 21-Apr-23

Griffith University professor AJ Brown, who is a Transparency International Australia board member and integrity expert, has attacked Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ response to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s Project Daintree report. Andrews has stated the report was ‘out-of-date’ and an "educational report, not a report delivered because wrongdoing was found". Brown says that IBAC found plenty of wrongdoing, while former Court of Appeal judge Stephen Charles says the behaviour unearthed by IBAC’s investigation would have led to findings of corrupt conduct in most other Australian jurisdictions; he has labelled Andrews’ government as "crooked".

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GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION

Electoral staffer used for Victorian Labor factional work

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 13-Oct-21

Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has heard further evidence of misuse of public resources within the state’s Labor government. Elle Schreiber had a senior role in the office of former Labor minister Adem Somyurek; she has told IBAC that she had often spent as much as 80 per cent of her working hours on party-political activities for Labor’s moderate faction rather than work related to Somyurek’s portfolio. Schreiber subsequently took up a role in the office of federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne, who revealed the extent of branch-stacking and the misuse of taxpayers’ funds in his appearance before IBAC on Monday.

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VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Andrews loses fourth minister to branch stacking scandal

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Original article by Sumeyya Ilanbey
The Age – Page: Online : 12-Oct-21

Luke Donnellan resigned as Victoria’s Aged Care Minister on the first day of an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission inquiry, after he was named as being part of a Labor branch-stacking operation led by former minister Adem Somyurek. Donnellan is the fourth member of the state government to have resigned in connection to the branch-stacking scandal; Somyurek, Marlene Kairouz and Robin Scott were forced to resign in 2020 after the media exposed the scandal.

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VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

IBAC will look into branch stacking

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Original article by Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 4 : 18-Jun-20

The branch-stacking scandal that has embroiled Victorian Labor has been referred to the state’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, which has confirmed that it has commenced an investigation into it. However, the state government is resisting a push to have the allegations referred to the Victorian Ombudsman, despite an Opposition motion to this effect being passed by parliament’s upper house on 17 June. Meanwhile, some members of Labor’s Right faction have accused Premier Daniel Andrews and federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese of a ‘power grab’.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Investigator has whip hand on harness racing industry

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Original article by Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Matt Taylor
The Age – Page: 9 : 3-Feb-15

Victorian Racing Integrity Commissioner Sal Perna has found evidence of corruption in the harness, thoroughbred and greyhound racing sectors. Perna, a former homicide policeman, says he met people who were so distressed with the state of affairs in the industry that they were crying when talking about corruption and the involvement of organised crime. A prominent harness racing driver and his father were arrested on 2 February 2015

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RACING VICTORIA LIMITED, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE RACING INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER

IBAC changes too weak: ex-judge

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Original article by Royce Millar
The Age – Page: 1 : 13-Oct-14

Tim Smith QC has written to all political parties in Victoria for the Accountability Round Table lobbying body. He cites a review by ex-Supreme Court judge Stephen Charles QC of proposed legislative changes to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). These will be discussed in the State Parliament from 13 October 2014. Charles argues that even after the amendments the IBAC will be inferior to the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption

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VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, THE ACCOUNTABILITY ROUND TABLE LIMITED, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA

Officer admits cash for contracts scam

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Original article by Adam Carey
The Age – Page: 8 : 5-Aug-14

A project officer with Public Transport Victoria made a surprising admission at the first public hearing of Victoria’s Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission. He conceded that he had accepted cash and gifts in exchange for giving contracts worth $A25 million to businesses he established with a former public servant. He said he was surprised that his fraudulent activities were not discovered earlier

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VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, PUBLIC TRANSPORT VICTORIA (PTV)