Bureaucrats could be disciplined in ‘Catch me if you can’ case, Premier Jay Weatherill says
PREMIER Jay Weatherill says staff in his department could face disciplinary action over the hiring of a senior executive who has since been arrested, charged and sacked for alleged dishonesty.
PREMIER Jay Weatherill says staff in his department could face disciplinary action over the hiring of a senior executive who has since been arrested, charged and sacked for alleged dishonesty.
However, he would not commit to an audit of senior executives across government to make sure no other potentially fraudulent candidates had slipped through the vetting process.
The Advertiser on Friday revealed the Government dumped the top public servant in charge of sensitive computer services amid fears it is the victim of an elaborate Hollywood-style scam.
Department of Premier and Cabinet staff were told in July that a woman named Veronica Theriault would become chief information officer, a position that pays up to $244,000 a year.
It can be revealed she was sacked on Tuesday, just seven weeks after starting on August 3, and has now been charged by police with offences related to dishonesty.
There are also bizarre claims that she used multiple identities, faked a CV and lied to get her job.
Mr Weatherill has ordered an “urgent review” of hiring processes in the wake of the revelations, but would not say how long he expected it to take.
He also would not comment on who was on the recruitment panel which interviewed Ms Theriault, but did say that they or other staff could face disciplinary action as a result of the findings of the review.
“We first need to understand what happened here,” Mr Weatherill said on Friday.
“It’s a little too early to make those broader judgments. It’s an extraordinary and rare situation. An extraordinary act of alleged criminal conduct we’re seeing here.
“Of course it raises those concerns.”
Mr Weatherill said there was “no doubt” Ms Theriault should have undergone a security clearance as part of her application process for such a role.
DPC chief executive Don Russell is overseeing the recruitment review.
He terminated Ms Theriault’s employment contract on September 19 “with immediate effect”.
Neither Theriault nor Corkhill could be reached for comment on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for Theriault said there was a robust vetting process that wasn’t followed by the department, including failing to submit the application for a national police and security check. Theriault will appear in court in November on dishonesty charges.