By Megan Gorrey
A former Sydney council employee acted corruptly when he helped his friends’ companies win contracts – some of which totalled $1.4 million – for construction projects, an inquiry has found.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday found Tony Nguyen, a former senior project engineer at the Inner West Council, used fake email addresses, aliases and “dummy bids” to manipulate tender processes for council building project contracts between 2016 and 2020.
Tony Nguyen giving evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.Credit: ICAC
In a WhatsApp conversation in 2022 with an employee at one of the construction companies that he had assisted in winning building work, Nguyen remarked, “[If] I get busted, I get done for fraud.”
The ICAC last year held a six-week public inquiry into allegations Nguyen and bureaucrats from the state’s transport agency had used their positions dishonestly in awarding multiple contracts to various companies for their own benefit in the past decade.
The investigation, dubbed Operation Hector, also examined the conduct of certain workers from sharemarket-listed contractor Downer EDI Works, which Transport for NSW engaged to upgrade train stations.
The ICAC said on Tuesday it began probing Nguyen’s conduct at the council after a tip-off and had later uncovered the “spread of the corrupt activity to also include Transport for NSW and Downer”.
It found “multiple instances of collusion between Downer EDI Works project managers and private contractors tendering for subcontracts on Transport for NSW projects”.
“Many projects involved [Tony] Nguyen, and some of the contracts were worth millions of dollars, with three works packages at Wollstonecraft Station alone totalling $4.6 million in value.”
The commission found Nguyen had engaged in “elaborate collusive tendering schemes with multiple Inner West Council subcontractors, with which he had an undeclared association, to influence the awarding of council contracts”.
“The schemes included dummy bidding, collusive tendering and order splitting … Although there were measures in place to manage procurement and other risks, Mr Nguyen admitted that he ignored them,” the ICAC said.
Former council project engineer Tony Nguyen (left) leaves ICAC last year.Credit: Natalie Boog
The inquiry was told the projects included upgrades to parks, as well as council and community buildings.
The ICAC said the council, which was created from the amalgamation of the former Leichhardt, Ashfield and Marrickville local government areas in 2016, was at the time “chaotic and uncertain”.
“This contributed to Mr Nguyen being able to engage in his schemes, which involved the awarding of Inner West Council contracts to companies that were owned by his friends. By the time Mr Nguyen resigned from Inner West Council in October 2020, his involvement had helped some businesses benefit from up to $1.4 million worth of contracts,” the commission said.
The inquiry heard that before he started at the council, Nguyen had worked as a site engineer at the Glenfield Junction Alliance, which was a joint project of Transport for NSW and various companies.
He met Transport for NSW employees Nima Abdi and Raja Sanber and “commenced his corrupt schemes, starting with the Glenfield Transport Interchange multistorey car park rectification work in 2014”.
The ICAC found Abdi, who was the project manager, had “manipulated” the tender process to ensure the contract for the project was awarded to ASN Contractors Pty Ltd – a company owned by Abdi, Nguyen and Sanber.
“While employed at Inner West Council, Mr Nguyen was also conducting business with his Transport for NSW associates, including being in a silent partnership along with Mr Abdi in Mr Sanber’s company, Sanber Group Pty Ltd, which was awarded Inner West Council contracts by Mr Nguyen.”
The commission made corruption findings against Nguyen’s friend and business owner Monty Nguy, and business owner Seng Du Laphai in relation to the Inner West Council contracts.
It also found Abdi, Sanber, Transport for NSW project manager George Panagakis, Downer employees Abdal Aziz and Sairam Pilli, Aidan Cox of company Marble Arch, and Sydney Trains employee Benjamin Vardanega engaged in corrupt conduct.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said the agency took allegations of corrupt conduct “very seriously”, and it had taken “various steps to mitigate the fraud and corruption risks identified”.
“The contracts and services of the Transport for NSW officers identified were terminated prior to the start of the public hearing.”
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