Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission probes 50 allegations of major project wrongdoing

Victoria’s corruption watchdog has probed around 50 allegations of bribery, favouritism, collusion and other wrongdoing on the state’s big build.

IBAC has investigated around 50 allegation of corruption related to the state’s big build: Picture: Craig Hughes

Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog has opened 26 cases involving the state’s major projects with favouritism, government inaction and collusion among the most common areas of concern.

Speaking at a forum on misconduct risks in the industry, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission revealed it had also looked into serious allegations such as bribery and obstruction of justice.

Figures provided by the commission show since 2018 it has opened 26 cases and been asked to examine 50 allegations of corruption on infrastructure projects.

A spokesman for the commission told the forum the data provided a quick snapshot of the types of cases IBAC was involved in the sector.

IBAC is paying close attention to the state's infrastructure splurge. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“A lot of them are related to favouritism, as well as inaction and breach of professional boundaries,” he said.

“The latter two relate to managers and public sector employees who are not doing enough to investigate complaints and allegations … or exceeding the official boundaries that they’ve been entrusted with.”

The spokesman said there were familiar risks from previous IBAC reports, but some other key issues which were worth looking into.

“Perhaps one thing that I would highlight is contractor and subcontractor fraud,” he said.

“One of the things that we really highlighted in the report was there are tiers of contractors that cascade down to tier three or tier four in some cases.

“What doesn’t diminish what I emphasise is the responsibility to the public.

“You might have a primary contractor but as you go down the list, that responsibility to be transparent and to work collaboratively with the public sector to make sure that the public interest is being served does not diminish.”

One of the commission’s most high-profile cases in recent years was Operation Esperance, which looked at the awarding of cleaning contracts at V/Line and Metro.

IBAC said it was concerned about possible contractor and subcontractor fraud. Picture: Julian Smith

V/line chief executive James Pinder was sacked after the probe was made public and the matter is currently before the courts.

Major building jobs have come under tighter scrutiny as the Andrews government's commits spends billions of dollars each year on its signature project.

The CFMEU are engaged in a bitter turf war across these projects, delaying or holding up work until contractors aligned to their rival union, or who have no allegiance, are removed.

The Andrews government has been accused of allowing the behaviour, with major builder’s under pressure to meet their demands or risk blowouts or missing future contracts.

Last year, the Opposition wrote to IBAC asking them to examine the government’s role in the dispute.

IBAC found that the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority had made strong efforts to address this, bringing in new staff and underscoring the importance of integrity.

But the commission’s spokesman said there were also alarming trends among businesses in a recent survey of the public.

“One concerning statistic from that is that among suppliers there is still a concerning percentage that are not prepared to speak up about instances of corruption and fraud that they have observed,” he said.

“We’ve highlighted major infrastructure projects as part of our strategic focus.

“Why was this scenario of interest? Well, obviously, everyone knows about the large amounts of public money that’s being spent on infrastructure projects.

“Importantly, it’s a very close collaboration between the public and private sectors.”