NT anti-corruption chief Michael Riches quits following allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’
Northern Territory ICAC boss Michael Riches has resigned after a year-long probe into misconduct allegations, which included offering his wife $20k to drop a DVO application.
The Northern Territory anti-corruption chief has resigned from his role just days after a report into a year-long investigation into allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” was handed down.
Allegations “relating to employment-related matters” were raised by staff in June last year about NT Independent Commissioner Against Corruption commissioner Michael Riches to NT ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock during an investigation first launched over concerns he had offered his estranged wife $20,000 to stop her domestic violence order application against him reaching the courts.
The allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” were first revealed by The Australian after Mr McClintock spearheaded an investigation into Mr Riches when it was revealed in June 2024 that a DVO application was served on him in May 2023 but withdrawn shortly after the financial offer was made.
On Tuesday night, NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said in a statement that Mr Riches had resigned, which was accepted by the administrator of the Territory with effect this Thursday, May 15.
He had been on full pay and pocketing almost $500,000 while the investigation by the Commissioner for Public Employment took almost a year to complete. He had been on leave since the end of May last year.
The allegations were not made public by Mr McClintock, who at the time was criticised for not interviewing Mr Riches’s estranged wife, Jennifer Riches, who alleged in The Australian that Mr Riches’s temper and controlling behaviour during their eight-year marriage caused her to leave the family home and stay in motels on occasions.
Mr Riches has previously told The Australian the allegations were false and defamatory.
In June last year, Mr McClintock found the allegation that the anti-corruption chief had improperly offered the payment to Ms Riches to suppress any allegations of domestic violence made by her “not to be true” and he could not “conclusively” determine whether DV allegations were true.
He also found the allegations against Mr Riches could not “constitute corrupt conduct”.
Ms Finocchiaro on Tuesday said Mr McClintock had exercised his discretion under legislation to terminate the investigation “as it is no longer in the public interest and is an unnecessary expenditure of Territory resources”.
“As a result of the Inspector of the ICAC’s investigation concluding, I have today requested the Commissioner for Public Employment necessitate sufficient redaction to allow for privacy and confidentiality concerns to be allayed and for the confidential report to be published on the OCPE’s website,” she said.
“As a new government, we share the community’s frustrations regarding the length of time and costs which this whole process has taken.”
Mr Riches allegedly offered Ms Riches $12,000 plus $1000 for eight fortnights on the basis she withdrew her DVO application filed with a Darwin Court in May last year, and “contingent upon Mr Riches remaining in his employment at ICAC”.
According to legal correspondence between the couple obtained by The Australian, prior to Ms Riches filing her DVO application she had sought $30,000 as “urgent lump sum spousal maintenance”.
As part of his role as ICAC commissioner, Mr Riches was responsible for investigating “cases of corrupt conduct and anti-democratic conduct” among public officers and bodies, and oversaw some of the biggest corruption investigations in the country, including into former police officer Zach Rolfe’s allegations of widespread racism in Darwin’s elite police unit.
During his tenure Mr Riches did not make any significant findings of corruption in the Territory.
He also called on the police to help investigate accusations of racism within the force’s elite unit, citing ICAC’s lack of resources to conduct its own investigation.
The NT government allocated $6.6m in funding for the ICAC for FY26.
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