The National Anti-Corruption Commission shall be tasked with investigating former Queensland MP Stuart Robert’s hyperlinks to consulting agency Synergy 360.
The referral comes from parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit who had been probing the matter, and is the primary of its type because the NACC opened in July.
In an interim report on Wednesday, the committee warned it lacked the enough powers to research the “serious and systemic” allegations leveraged in opposition to the previous Fadden MP, who stop parliament in May.
The NACC will think about whether or not to conduct a “fuller investigation to establish the substance of the serious allegations” made in relation to Mr Robert and Synergy 360.
At the guts of the case is the allegation, heard underneath parliamentary privilege, that Mr Robert had used his place as companies minister within the former Coalition authorities to help the agency in securing conferences with authorities stakeholders and land profitable contracts.
The audit committee inquiry heard the allegation that Synergy 360 proposed a construction that might guarantee Mr Robert benefited financially from contracts awarded to the agency – an allegation Mr Robert has denied.
In a press release, committee chair Julian Hill stated the group had no selection however to move the matter over to the NACC.
“A referral to the NACC by a parliamentary committee should never be made lightly, and certainly is not done so here,” Mr Hill stated.
“The committee has established a number of matters but is unable, given its resources, lack of forensic accounting expertise, and the refusal so far of key witnesses to provide documents or fully answer questions, to make clear findings as to the truth
“An agency with compulsory questioning, document gathering, and investigatory powers may be able to properly assess these matters.”
The committee stated that in making the advice, it was not “making any findings in relation to the conduct of any individuals”.
In March, a overview discovered the federal government spent $374m on contracts deemed to be poor worth for cash, sparking an audit inquiry.
Mr Hill stated the inquiry had revealed “previously undisclosed meetings … between (Mr) Robert, Synergy 360 and Infosys, inducing during a tender process and when Infosys was being performance managed by Services Australia”.
More to return.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
