Melbourne Sky Rail project worker Kory Oxley facing jail for pay rort
A corrupt foreman working on Melbourne’s billion-dollar sky rail project is facing jail after scamming taxpayers of tens of thousands of dollars in an elaborate pay cheque scandal.
Police & Courts
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A corrupt foreman working on Melbourne’s $1.6 billion Sky Rail project is facing jail after scamming taxpayers of tens of thousands of dollars in an elaborate pay cheque scandal.
Kory Oxley, 37, rorted his position as a Lendlease building supervisor contracted to the signalling division of the Caulfield to Dandenong level crossing removal project to bill the taxpayer $90,000 for time not actually worked.
The Berwick father even redirected a team of 26 labourers to do renovations at the private residence of his manager Steven Winter, who he considered a long-time friend.
Oxley, who is now working as a crane operator, pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception when fronting the County Court on Thursday.
And despite him begging to have a chance on a community-based order, Judge Kevin Doyle warned he was “squarely looking at some time in imprisonment for these matters”.
The court heard Oxley was on an $185,000 annual salary when he personally pocketed almost $42,000 from the scam in which he paid staff for days they did not work on the condition they gave him a 50 per cent cut.
The 11-month rort throughout 2018 became known as “cheese days” among the workers, who told police they felt pressured to take part in what was spruiked as a win-win for all.
“You’re either gonna be part of the ship or you’re gonna be thrown off,” one of Oxley’s crew members said.
Oxley also billed the state for the two days his workers spent at Winter’s five-bedroom Selby property, painting, building a fence and clearing a pile of logs in August 2018.
Winter, who was the superintendent for the project and hired Oxley, was sentenced to a CCO which included 200 hours of unpaid community work for his involvement in the deception.
Prosecutor Stephen Devlin said it was a joint enterprise between Winter and Oxley but it was Oxley who “controls the purse strings” in authorising the pay slips.
“Clearly this is a serious fraud — it’s corrupt conduct,” Mr Devlin said. “Effectively the victim is really public funds, as it is public funds that goes to pay these entities for the significant works being undertaken.”
Mr Devlin pushed for a combined sentence of jail and a CCO, saying “there has to be an element of prison”.
Barrister David Carolan, for Oxley, said his client was remorseful for his actions and should get a sentencing discount for his early guilty plea.
“Mr Oxley accepts that engaging in this conduct was dishonest and stupid, and his embarrassed for his part in it,” Mr Carolan said.
Oxley will be sentenced on August 13.
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