By Megan Gorrey
The state’s anti-corruption watchdog has found a former Sydney council employee engaged in corrupt conduct when he accepted perks worth more than $200,000 in return for favouring his mate’s company for $4.5 million worth of contracts.
Canterbury-Bankstown Council’s former works and projects unit manager, Benjamin Webb, misused his public official functions when he accepted the money after hiring dozens of subcontractors through then-contractor Pietro Cossu’s company in a tangled scheme in 2021 and 2022, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption found on Thursday.
Benjamin Webb.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The ICAC also determined that Cossu engaged in corrupt conduct when he gave Webb about $208,000 in return for recruiting the workers from his business, PMLV Invest and Const Pty Ltd. It recommended criminal charges be considered against Webb and Cossu, including for corruptly receiving benefits.
Operation Mantis was formed to investigate the pair’s conduct after the council raised the alarm with the commission, and examined whether the two men used PMLV to supply subcontractors to the council via recruiters without declaring a financial interest. A public hearing took place in June. In its final report, the commission said neither of the men declared to the council they were friends when Webb hired Cossu on a temporary contract to provide project management services in 2020.
Cossu’s company had provided 26 workers to council through the recruitment agencies the organisation used to hire such workers. The council, however, had “no such subcontractor arrangement with PMLV, and the workers received significantly less payment than they would have had they been engaged directly by the recruitment agency”, the commission found.
Webb, who the inquiry heard was an undischarged bankrupt, had been responsible for hiring workers for his unit at the council and had signed off on the recruitment of the PMLV workers.
“He and Mr Cossu recruited workers who were generally inexperienced in the Australian workforce and who would generally accept low wages to gain experience,” the ICAC report said. “PMLV received a total of $7,184,938, from which it paid the 26 workers a total of $2,677,605, resulting in a gross profit of $4,507,332, from which insurances and other expenses were deducted.”
Late in 2021, Cossu had asked Webb whether he could use the PMLV company account to buy a car, and later bought a $57,990 Toyota Kluger for Webb to use.
Former Canterbury Bankstown Council contractor Pietro Cossu at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption in June.Credit: Dean Sewell
“The fact that Mr Cossu sought Mr Webb’s approval for PMLV expenditure supports Mr Webb having a significant interest in PMLV,” the ICAC report said.
The photograph of a Toyota Kluger that Pietro Cossu texted Benjamin Webb in October 2021. He later purchased the car for Webb to use.Credit: NSW ICAC
The ICAC found Webb had breached the council’s code of conduct by failing to disclose his friendship with Cossu, his bankruptcy status and the financial perks he received via the scheme.
Operation Mantis also examined allegations that Cossu favoured a company, General Works and Construction, which was owned by his friend Jeremy Clarke, regarding council contracts.
The report said the company won multiple council contracts between 2020 and 2022, sometimes after Cossu helped Clarke price jobs by providing him with information about other contractors’ quotes or tenders, or he had participated on panels that recommended the company win work.
Cossu and Clarke engaged in corrupt conduct through their arrangement “in which Mr Clarke paid PMLV over $2 million in return for that assistance to win council projects … by utilising the information and opportunities available to Mr Cossu through his position at council.”
The report noted the council had “recently taken steps to improve its procedures”, but said the inquiry had exposed “systemic shortcomings in the implementation of processes and policy frameworks for recruitment and procurement”.
It said the “most serious and obvious deficiency in council was the failure to perform due diligence”, partly by giving Webb “substantial financial discretion”, although he was an undischarged bankrupt.
The report said the ICAC would seek the advice of the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions on whether any charges should be laid.
The commission believed “consideration should be given to obtaining the advice of the DPP about the prosecution of Mr Webb, for the criminal offence of corruptly receiving financial benefits, Mr Cossu for the criminal offences of corruptly receiving and giving financial benefits, and Mr Clarke for the criminal offence of corruptly giving financial benefits”, the report said.
A council spokeswoman said the organisation would examine the commission’s findings, noting it had already set up a working group to review its procurement and human resources practices.
“We remain committed to transparency, good governance, and implementing any measures required to ensure the highest standards of integrity in our operations,” the spokeswoman said.
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