Golf, rent and a mortgage: ties between ex-Ipswich CEO Carl Wulff and a contractor under scrutiny

Golf, rent and a mortgage are among the ties between Ipswich's just-resigned CEO Carl Wulff and a flood-recovery contractor. Now the misconduct watchdog is investigating.

Ipswich business ties under scrutiny

IT is not business as usual in Ipswich.

In the space of a month the city's powerful chief executive officer, Carl Wulff, has quit amid a misconduct probe and a well-known contractor has subsequently lost its work with the council.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission is investigating, throwing a spotlight on one of council's top brass and his business relationships.

Wulff is under scrutiny over a two-bedroom, two-carpark apartment at Hamilton Harbour on the Brisbane River he bought for $810,000 in 2009.

The up-market unit, with river and city views, is about 45 kilometres from Ipswich.

Three years after Wulff purchased the unit, he was renting it out for $850 a week to Professional Consulting Group (PCG) for its Brisbane representative Claude Walker.

PCG was working for Ipswich. It was a subcontractor for the Coffey Group on a project to oversee flood recovery activities for Ipswich council.

What wasn't widely known, was council for a year reimbursed the rent PCG had paid, costing ratepayers $48,000.

Wulff was a powerful man in town. He oversaw almost 1500 staff and a $390 million budget. His Facebook profile picture showed him cupping a revolver at a gun range.

He insists Melbourne-based PCG had Brisbane accommodation built into their work agreement, and while he "was involved" in awarding the initial contract to Coffey, he was not involved in transferring that head contract to PCG. He adds there is no relation between PCG's decision to rent his place and it winning work, plus, the rent was an "open market" rate.

Still, his unit is an unusual choice. Of all apartments in Brisbane, PCG chose Wulff's.

Wulff says PCG came to him - but draws a blank about why. "How PCG knew about it, I don't really know," he says.

He and Walker have long-running ties. Council says the pair did business "on and off" for 10 years.

It can be revealed today that they also golf together. In 2011, according to a team-up list, Wulff and Walker partnered in an Ipswich tournament. In one golf photo, they wear matching crazy-striped pants.

Ties extended beyond the putting green. Property records show Walker's wife Gillian took a mortgage over Wulff's Hamilton unit in July last year.

The records only note it was collateral to secure a debt owed to Ms Walker - the terms and amount were not detailed.

Wulff won't comment beyond saying he had flagged it before the CMC investigation started, and he logged the apartment on his council register of interests. Ms Walker has not returned calls and Mr Walker declined to comment.

Mr Walker was born in South Africa in 1957. He was formerly an executive at UCMS, which provided back-office support and did extensive work with councils including Ipswich.

But it can be revealed today his personal record is cobbled with creditor run-ins.

While never bankrupted, Federal documents state he entered a personal insolvency agreement in 1998, with creditors owed $610,464.92. There were two other creditor petitions in 1991 and 2007, which were resolved.

Since 2011, business got better. That was the year where at PCG, Walker helped Ipswich, acting as liaison officer to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and providing management support.

It's a big money job. PCG's contract was worth $1.8 million as at October 2012, according tender documents.

Council says PCG's roles included running a program management office, which dealt with design consultation skills and governance support among duties.

Mayor Paul Pisasale in November said PCG had attracted no complaints - in fact the council's "flood recovery program has been labelled best in the state".

Wulff also had worked hard for Ipswich, Pisasale added.

"In hindsight, I think the CEO would have done it in a different way or not rented the unit", the politician said.

It didn't stop Pisasale referring Wulff to the CMC after The Courier-Mail started asking questions in November.

Pisasale said he wanted to make sure processes were in place.

The CMC returned the investigation to council, which was then flicked back to the CMC following "new information".

Wulff quit in mid December. It was a decision reached by "mutual agreement", Pisasale said in December in a statement.

Flood work is also ceasing with Walker's renamed company, Professional Consulting Group Australasia. There's little public information about that company, save for its website with two pages and a blog link to Ipswich council.

That blog link is broken.

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