Integrity Commissioner laptop removal not a raid, says CCC

Queensland’s corruption watchdog has labelled the removal of laptops from the integrity commissioner’s office “entirely ordinary”.

The state’s corruption watchdog has found the removal of laptops from the integrity commissioner’s office was a not a raid, labelling the situation “entirely ordinary”.

And it found there was no evidence an executive officer within the integrity commissioner’s office had improperly disclosed information, or that current information security arrangements had not led to any inappropriate release of confidential information.

The Crime and Corruption Commission today released its Investigation Workshop report following allegations information from integrity commissioner Nikola Stepanov’s office may have been disclosed.

The probe looked at three matters, including whether an executive officer in Dr Stepanov’s office had disclosed confidential information, the circumstances surrounding why laptops were taken in March last year and the information security arrangements regarding confidential information held by Dr Stepanov.

“In relation to those three matters, the investigation concluded that; i. There was no evidence of improper disclosure, ii. The circumstances in which the laptops were retrieved from the integrity commissioner’s office were entirely ordinary, and the descriptions of ‘raid’ and ‘seizure’ do not reflect the reality of what occurred,” the report read.

“Further, the circumstances in which one laptop was ‘wiped’ are wholly unremarkable.

“iii. The information security arrangements in relation to information held by the integrity commissioner have been in place since the office’s inception.

“While there may be occasion to reconsider those arrangements as part of the broader review of the structural arrangements for the integrity commissioner, there was no evidence to suggest that these arrangements had led to any improper access of confidential integrity commissioner information.”

Former integrity commissioner Dr Nikola Stepanov

It was last year revealed that a complaint had been made to the CCC alleging interference by the Public Service Commission in the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, including claims laptops and mobile phones had been seized.

Dr Stepanov also raised concerns that the executive officer may have released confidential information after discovering a number of emails had been copied, or blind copied, to a separate work account.

The Opposition had demanded the government reveal “what’s on the laptop” while claiming Dr Stepanov had “a target on her back because she has been talking about Labor lobbyists”.

The laptops removed were the executive officer’s and a director’s.

But the CCC’s report found the director’s laptop was collected amid an ongoing bullying investigation into them while the executive officer’s laptop was removed so it could be allocated to someone else after they left the office.

“On 12 March 2021, the desktop support engineer (a contractor employed by an external company to provide IT support services for DPC) attended the integrity commissioner’s office,” the report read.

“While the evidence is unclear as to who made the request, it is clear that a request was made by officers of the PSC to DPC IT to collect the director’s laptop from the integrity commissioner’s office.

“The desktop support engineer appears to have collected the two laptops from the integrity commissioner’s office at the same time, albeit for different purposes.

“It is sufficiently clear that they collected the Director’s laptop from the integrity commissioner’s office to secure it for the purpose of the ongoing investigation concerning the Director.

“The executive officer’s laptop was collected by the desktop support engineer at the same time so it could be reallocated to the new starter.”

Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson

The watchdog found that the laptops were taken back to DPC IT and that the director’s laptop was set aside.

The executive officer’s laptop was “effectively immediately backed up” and then repurposed for the new person.

After being informed that DPC had collected the laptops for reallocation, which the CCC determined was not entirely correct, Dr Stepanov made a file note saying she had not wanted it to happen.

But the watchdog ultimately found that the executive officer’s laptop, which Dr Stepanov had used via her own login in the months after they left, had been “reimaged” so that it could be reallocated.

And that the executive officer had not improperly disclosed information, noting that they had told the investigation they used “the mechanism of copying emails” to an individual integrity account “as a means of managing workflow.”

PSC’s chief executive Robert Setter welcomed the findings.

“The report demonstrates, what we have previously stated, that I and the Public Service Commission, have always acted with professionalism and integrity, and in compliance with obligations under legislation, including the Crime and Corruption Act,” he said.

“Now that the investigation is complete, and the report published the Public Service Commission has no further comments on the matter.”

But the Opposition claimed the report raised more questions than answers.

“If the Department of Premier and Cabinet is responsible for IT in the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, why did the Public Service Commission request the laptop?” integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said.