ICAC to investigate former Canterbury-Bankstown Council employee and subcontractor
A former Canterbury-Bankstown Council employee and subcontractor are the subject of a corruption investigation over a series of alleged dishonestly obtained contracts spanning two years.
The Express
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A former Canterbury-Bankstown Council employee and subcontractor are the subject of a corruption investigation over a series of alleged dishonestly obtained contracts spanning two years.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption announced an investigation into former contractor Pietro Cossu and former council employee Benjamin Webb as part of Operation Mantis on Tuesday.
The corruption watchdog will probe whether Mr Cossu and Mr Web “partially or dishonestly” exercised their roles by using a company called PMLV Invest & Const Pty Ltd for recruitment subcontractor services without disclosing their interests in the company.
The commission will also investigate whether the duo “partially or dishonestly” exercised their roles to favour a second company, General Works & Construction Pty Ltd (GWAC) by attempting to influence the award of council contracts or use PMLV Invest & Const Pty Ltd to subcontract GWAC council contracts to benefit themselves or others.
ICAC commissioner Helen Murrell SC will preside a three-week long hearing on June 3 to examine the alleged misconduct between May 2020 to December 2022.
A Canterbury-Bankstown spokesman said the council sounded the alarm on the alleged misconduct to the corruption watchdog.
“We notified the commission about our concerns and have been assisting and fully co-operating with their inquiries,” the spokesman said.
“As the matter is now set down for a public inquiry, council will not be making any further comment.”
The council was previously under the microscope after an unrelated ICAC investigation in 2021 where the watchdog found two former councillors, a former general manager and a council planning director “engaged in serious corrupt”.
The investigation uncovered misconduct spanning from 2014 to 2016, including blackmail during the council hiring process, the misuse of council positions to influence development applications and failing to disclose property developer relationships.
The commission made 23 recommendations, including for the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to create a clear process to ensure that guidelines for councils on varying development standards are subject to regular review.
Another recommendation was for council to have a recruitment policy “that applies to the appointment of senior staff, which is consistent with the relevant provisions of the Local Government Act 1993”.
ICAC also called for the southwest Sydney council to ensure its development assessment procedures “assess and verify compliance with design requirements for residential apartment developments”.
Mr Cossu and Mr Web were not accused of any wrongdoing.
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