Suppressed evidence reveals anger over ‘malicious’ IBAC

A submission judged ‘high risk’ by a Labor-led parliamentary inquiry into IBAC brands the agency’s conduct reckless and malicious.

Sameh (Sam) Aziz being questioned at an IBAC hearing in 2020.

Sam Aziz, one of the key targets of an anti-corruption investigation, has accused IBAC of publicly ­examining witnesses without “any semblance of procedural fairness and natural justice”.

The former Casey mayor has delivered the stinging assessment of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in a 13-page submission to the Victorian parliament’s integrity and oversight committee.

The Aziz submission, which has been seen by The Weekend Australian, is unlikely to be ­released by the Labor-led committee despite the committee calling for public submissions into its ­inquiry into witness welfare. The committee opened the ­inquiry after the suicide of ex-mayor Amanda Stapledon, who took her life three days after receiving IBAC’s draft report into Operation Sandon, an investigation into allegedly corrupt land deals.

Former Casey mayor Sam Aziz (right) with ex-Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon, who took her life in January,

But it emerged on Friday that the committee, chaired by Labor MP Harriet Shing, has blocked Mr Aziz and at least six other Operation Sandon witnesses from testifying in public, deeming they were a “high risk” of making a “prohibited disclosure”.

In his submission, Mr Aziz says his life has been ruined by IBAC’s decision to subject him to a public examination, saying he suffered “extreme distress in relation to the reckless and deliberately malicious manner in which IBAC conducted this investigation and, in particular, the public examination”.

“I wish to bring to your attention the devastating impact that the public examination has had, and continues to have, on my ­welfare and that of my family,” Mr Aziz writes.

“I have probably suffered more than any other witness that for now remains alive, following this catastrophe. I don’t make this comment lightly or flippantly, as my very dear friend and former colleague Amanda Stapledon (died by) suicide as a direct result IBAC’s conduct in this matter.”

IBAC said legislative safeguards existed to ensure the rights and welfare of individuals were considered by the agency before a public examination was held.

“IBAC may only examine a witness in public if there are ­exceptional circumstances, it is in the public interest, can be held without causing unreasonable damage to a person’s reputation, safety or wellbeing, and there is strong evidence of serious or systemic corrupt conduct,” an IBAC spokesman said.

“In the case of Operation Sandon, all of these criteria were met.”

While Mr Aziz and other Casey councillors were publicly examined in Operation Sandon, Premier Daniel Andrews was privately grilled about his association with businessman John Woodman.

In his submission, Mr Aziz claims IBAC behaved in an ­“aggressive and unnecessary heavy-handed” manner in executing search warrants. But his strongest criticism is focused on IBAC’s decision to publicly examine Operation Sandon witnesses.

Mr Aziz said the public examinations were conducted with a ­“denial of any semblance of procedural fairness or natural justice, where you are directed to answer questions only with yes or no ­responses, and where you cannot provide explanations, either factual or contextual, to correct the … plain wrong assumptions and ­conclusions”.

Mr Aziz claims in his submission the agency failed to ­inform him and other witnesses about legislative amendments that he says could have allowed them to apply to be examined in private.

Mr Aziz, in his submission, says one of the biggest “insults” he suffered at the hands of IBAC was when the agency sent him its draft report into Operation Sandon on Christmas Eve, 2021.

“IBAC clearly has a total disregard for human life and people’s welfare,” he writes in the submission.

The Honourable Robert Redlich at the IBAC hearing for former Casey mayor Sam Aziz.

“In their cruel wisdom, IBAC chose to send me the draft report on Christmas Eve … perhaps it was too much for IBAC to allow me to have a quiet and enjoyable Christmas with my family.”

Mr Aziz also unloads on the Victorian Inspectorate, which is charged with monitoring IBAC, claiming its response to warnings about witness welfare was “very poor and inadequate”.

“Not only did the VI take months to respond, when they did respond, they dismissed entirely in a very technical and legally complex narrative the concerns I had made to them in April 2021,” Mr Aziz writes.

“I wonder if Amanda would still be alive today had the VI taken action to reign in IBAC’s campaign of terror against us?”

VI Inspector Eamonn Moran said he was prevented by legislation from directly responding to specific complaints, but defended the watchdog’s record on witness welfare.

“I categorically reject any suggestion that the VI has overlooked any specific threat to welfare,” he said. “I have always placed a focus on witness welfare, as evidenced by our special report into the welfare of witnesses in IBAC investigations in 2018 which first brought attention to the duty of care owed by IBAC to witnesses.”

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call: Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au; Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au