Victorian corruption watchdog IBAC’s evidence bungle

Victoria’s corruption hunter became the hunted after ‘indiscreet’ and ‘inappropriate’ actions by an agent left it no option but to apologise.

An IBAC officer carries a plastic bag containing evidence.

Victoria’s anti-corruption authority was forced to apologise after ­“indiscreet” and “inappropriate” actions by an agent resulted in seized items in a clear evidence bag ­returned to a person of interest at their workplace.

The Independent Broad-­based Anti-corruption Commission apologised to the person, referred to only as X, over the ham-fisted episode that triggered changes to policies and procedures at the authority.

The embarrassing bungle has been revealed by the Victorian ­Inspectorate — the body that monitors IBAC — as it confirms it investigated 44 complaints against the authority in 2020-21.

The inspectorate said it had ­investigated the complaint from X “about the indiscreet manner in which an IBAC Technical Officer returned property seized during an investigation, including electronic devices”.

“The property was returned at X’s workplace and displayed in a clear evidentiary bag. X contacted the IBAC Investigator shortly ­afterwards expressing their concern at these actions,” the inspectorate’s annual report states.

It said the officer’s “inappropriate actions” displayed a “lack of situational awareness” and indicated the “chain of custody process to be followed for seized property” was breached.

The inspectorate said 19 of the complaints had been completed and these mainly involved “unclear or non-specific” allegations and concerns about IBAC’s dismissal or referral of complaints about police. Twenty-five complaints are believed to be still under investigation.

The inspectorate said it had also investigated 36 complaints against the Victorian Ombudsman’s office. Four joint complaints were made against IBAC and ­Ombudsman agents.

The annual report does not ­detail the specific nature of the complaints or identify the operations involved. But the watchdog said it had “made observations” about three issues; how IBAC monitors complaints referred for investigation to Victoria Police, IBAC’s process for providing transcripts during public examinations and a particular IBAC process for contacting witnesses.

IBAC said it was subjected to rigorous scrutiny from the inspectorate and the Victorian Parliamentary Integrity and Oversight Committee.

IBAC did not address specific issues relating to any of the 44 complaints. It did concede some of its investigative processes needed to improve.

“Due to the serious and complex nature of our role, and the breadth of stakeholders it covers, we are always looking to improve the complaint process and complainant experience,” a spokes­person said.

“We have recently put steps in place to improve the quality and delivery times for assessment of complaints and better explain what people can expect when they make a complaint including why we may refer the complaint to another agency to investigate or dismiss the complaint.”

The Australian can also reveal that integrity and oversight committee has ordered the first independent review of IBAC and the inspectorate under laws that mandate a review every four years. Callida Consulting will be paid $440,000 to conduct the reviews.

Victorian Inspectorate chief ­Eamonn Moran QC, writing in the annual report, revealed the pandemic and restrictions seriously affected the watchdog’s performance.

“The Victorian Inspectorate was particularly ill-equipped to cope with the technical challenges imposed by health directions ­requiring staff to work from home,” he wrote. “This was ­because, to ensure data security, the VI stored data on an air gapped system that, by definition, was inaccessible via the internet.”

Mr Moran said working-from-home regulations had affected productivity, particularly around the handling of complaints that was “hampered in the remote working world of 2020-21 by a telephony system not fit for purpose”.