Wife of NT ICAC commissioner offered $20,000 to settle DVO

Lawyers for the NT’s anti-corruption chief Michael Riches made the offer, saying the matter would end the senior law enforcement official’s career if it were to come in front of a judge.

Jennifer Riches, the estranged wife of NT ICAC Commissioner Michael Riches. Picture: Liam Mendes

Lawyers for the Northern Territory’s anti-corruption chief, ­Michael Riches, offered his wife $20,000 to stop her complaint against him reaching the courts, saying the matter would end the senior law enforcement official’s career if it were to come in front of a judge.

Jennifer Riches – who was married to the NT ICAC commissioner for almost 10 years – was approached by the Territory police last week after she left her marriage to Mr Riches and spent five nights in a women’s shelter in May last year.

At that time, Mr Riches agreed to a two-year domestic violence undertaking in which he was prevented from approaching, contacting or stalking his now-estranged wife, without admission to liability, after a domestic violence order application was served on him but withdrawn shortly after the financial offer was made.

The 49-year-old is overseeing 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. He is responsible for investigating “cases of corrupt conduct and anti-democratic conduct” among public officers and bodies.

Mr Riches, who is on an annual salary of almost $500,000, 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.”

Government sources have told The Australian the former police officer took unexpected leave at the beginning of last week. Inspector for NT ICAC Bruce McClintock has refused to confirm or deny whether he is conducting an investigation into the allegations.

In legal correspondence obtained by The Australian, lawyers for Mr Riches told his estranged wife that if she did not accept an offer to settle her complaint outside of chambers quickly, the NT ICAC boss could lose his job.

“Mr Riches proposes that this offer is contingent upon Mr Riches remaining in his employment as ICAC … and be accounted for by way of partial property settlement and not spousal maintenance,” a letter from Mr Riches’s lawyer states.

“Time is of the essence and if Ms Riches does not withdraw her DVO, then Mr Riches will be forced to retire from his role as the ICAC. This will have considerable consequences for the alteration of property interest.”

After Mr Riches was served with the DVO application, his lawyers wrote to Ms Riches’s lawyers saying while the allegations of the DVO were unfounded, he would agree to enter into a written undertaking.

According to legal correspondence between the couple obtained by The Australian, three days prior to the day Ms Riches filed her DVO, she sought $30,000 as “urgent lump sum spousal maintenance”.

Ms Riches was offered $12,000 plus $1000 for eight fortnights to withdraw a DVO application. Picture: Liam Mendes

Ms Riches has detailed the circumstances leading to the breakdown of the marriage, alleging that Mr Riches’s temper and controlling behaviour caused her to leave the family home and stay in motels on a few occasions during their relationship.

The order was made in chambers and did not reach the public court system and therefore was not tested or ruled on.

The NT ICAC commissioner has declined to comment on the specific allegations his wife has raised in the aftermath of their bitter break-up, but in a statement on Thursday said the claims were “false and defamatory”.

“Ms Riches has had many allegations against many people over many years,” Mr Riches said.

“The matter is with the Inspector of the ICAC and I have no other comment to make, other than the assertions are false and defamatory.”

The Australian has seen documents and dozens of videos that show Ms Riches living in a women’s shelter in May last year, where she documented her break-up with Mr Riches.

Ms Riches said the couple’s issues were behavioural and he never harmed her physically. She has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which she says she is medicated for and is managed, and that she struggles with managing her business and personal finances. On one occasion, a caveat was placed on the family home after she failed to repay a business loan. She has also been accused on social media, and by a former client with whom The Australian has spoken, of overcharging clients.

Mr Riches was married to Ms Riches for almost ten years.

“Other times it would be a very, very, very, big issue and there’d be like no talking to me for four days or something,” she said.

“It became more me grovelling and having to plead and beg and I noticed I was begging and I noticed that I just lost hope in things getting better,” she said.

Ms Riches says she felt “extremely uncomfortable” with CCTV cameras – allegedly funded by ICAC for their safety – installed inside the living areas of the home, covering living and dining rooms and hallways.

“I always felt I was being watched all the time,” she said.

In an email she sent to him in March 2021, she wrote about feeling “dismissed and very concerned” about recent behaviour.

Ms Riches alleged in an affidavit that police were called to their home in 2015, when they lived in South Australia, after “Michael was yelling uncontrollably and hitting his head”.

When Ms Riches suffered a miscarriage in 2018, she describes that time as “one of the worst things I’ve gone through”.

“I told him ‘Look, I’m bleeding a bit and I need to go to the hospital, I’m really worried’ and he kept on ignoring me,” she told The Australian.

“He just locked himself in a room, and I ended up catching a train back to Sydney and then flying home on my own, having a miscarriage.

“He wasn’t there for me during that, he was just throwing tantrums, telling me I was wrong … getting angry at me for wrecking the holiday. He ended up driving back after that, he was nice to me for a little bit that day and then we had the ultrasound … and found out it was just an empty sack.

“Mike got very upset obviously and the whole thing became about Mike and he just got so angry at me, we came home, he was really upset and I understand that, I totally get that but (there was) virtually no support for me going through it,” she said.

“I had no support from him at all, he was just so angry … he wouldn’t come near me, I was in the bed by myself and I was crying and I said I wanted to talk or I want a hug … I was really upset as well, I can’t remember exactly, but he just refused to come up and talk with me and he just got so angry, it was (like) it was my fault, he was just extremely angry,” she alleges.

“I believe in helping women get through these situations in maybe like a lot less time than what I did.

“I really think that women need more practical support around the actual leaving part,” she said.

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