Tradies Bhairava Nanganoori, David Janev and Balihar Singh to plead guilty to bribing VBA staff

Three tradies exposed in an anti-corruption investigators will admit to bribing staffers at the state’s building regulator.

Three tradies facing bribery charges stemming from the IBAC investigation into the Victorian Building Authority’s cash-for-registration scandal have told a magistrate they will plead guilty.

Bhairava Prasad Nanganoori, 45, of Truganina, David Janev, 51, of Donvale, and Balihar Singh, 42, of Kalkallo, appeared briefly in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where they indicated they would plead guilty when their cases return to court next month.

The three men are among 38 people facing charges over the scandal.

The precise details of what the men will plead guilty have been the subject of significant negotiations and are yet to be aired in court, but documents released made public in the case show Nanganoori is charged with corruptly offering former VBA staffer Phillip Caccamo “an undue reward, namely certain monies” to dishonestly push through an application for domestic builder registration.

Nanganoori’s offending took place between August and September 2023.

It is alleged Nanganoori used one of three allegedly corrupt middlemen at the centre of the IBAC prove, Ozcan Oztas, to facilitate the payment to Mr Caccamo.

38 people, including three former Victorian Building Authority staffers, have been charged over a bribery scandal investigated by IBAC (file photo).

Janev and Singh are also accused of paying bribes to Mr Caccamo, through Mr Oztas, in 2023.

The amount of money that changed hands is yet to be revealed.

Neither Mr Oztas nor Mr Caccamo have indicated whether they will fight the allegations they are facing.

Nanganoori and Janev will return to court in July, while Singh will return to court in October.

The figures at the centre of the IBAC investigation — primary alleged middleman principal Omer Oztas, and allegedly corrupt former VBA staffers Mr Caccamo, Benedetto “Ben” Guiseppe Sano and Iolanda Fazzari — have not indicated whether they will fight the charges.

Meanwhile, the cases in which alleged offenders are contesting charges are set to consume weeks of court time.

Each of those cases are being listed for half-day committal hearings, with each being heard separately.

Those committal hearings, which will determine whether the cases proceed to trial in the County Court, are being listed from September.