The estimated value of the fraud that Barnaby Joyce orchestrated when he was federal Water Minister has grown to at least $190 million with the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) releasing a report on Thursday (16/7/20).
The report found that on Barnaby’s watch the department only used a “limited tender” process which really means there was no real tender process and the whole system was corrupted. It’s well-known that Barnaby Joyce got rid of the requirement for tenders, at least for the $80 million Angus Taylor / Cayman Island fraud which was done without a tender, The ANAO investigated $190 million of water buybacks which based on the report were done no better than the $80 million Angus Taylor / Cayman Island fraudulent water buyback so the whole $190 million spent on water buybacks likely involves fraud to some degree.
The blatant corruption is obvious in the ANAO report where at paragraph 16 it says “The department only negotiated price for one procurement”. Why did they only negotiate on price for one purchase? That is one hell of a red flag pointing to government employees involved in fraud which we know was done on the direction of Barnaby Joyce and that’s why he got rid of the tender process.
Calling it a “limited tender” process is a joke because it is really nothing more than a process deliberately designed to help facilitate fraud. The report goes on to say in paragraph 16:
“The department did not develop a framework designed to maximise the value for money of strategic water entitlements purchased through limited tender arrangements. Rather, the department relied on a methodology of valuations where gap-bridging water was required. The price the department paid for water entitlements was equal to or less than the maximum price determined by valuations. The department only negotiated price for one procurement.” (Click here to read the report)
When the $80 million Angus Taylor / Cayman Island fraud was being exposed on social media in April 2019 just before the May 2019 federal election Angus threatened legal action against 2 journalists and I sent his lawyers the below email:
From: SHANE DOWLING
Sent: 22 April 2019 21:19
To: mark.obrien@markobrienlegal.com.au; paul.svilans@markobrienlegal.com.au
Cc: steven.lewis@markobrienlegal.com.au; monica.allen@markobrienlegal.com.au; tihana.mandic@markobrienlegal.com.au
Subject: Notice of intention to publish allegations regarding your client Angus Taylor – Criminal conduct by lawyer Paul Svilans
Dear Mr O’Brien and Mr Svilans
I will be publishing on my website in the near future a copy of the Tweet thread that was published on the 10th of April 2019 titled “Money For Nothing” (and your tricks for free)” published by Ms Ronni Salt @MsVeruca and & Jommy Tee – electric HiLux owner @jommy_tee which you threatened defamation proceedings against journalists Michael West and Margo Kingston for Retweeting as you claimed it defamed your client Federal MP Angus Taylor.
I have had time to have a look at the material and situation and it does not defame your client so I intend on publishing it on my website as it is in the public interest to do so especially given we have a federal election only weeks away. Even if it did defame your client, which it doesn’t, it is protected as political communication which I am sure both of you are aware as per the High Court judgment Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520.
I should also bring to your attention that your conduct in making baseless threats to journalists could and would be construed by a court of law as an attempt to conceal the serious indictable offences that your client has been involved in. E.g the fraud and theft of taxpayers money by Angus Taylor and Barnaby Joyce in the #watergate scam. So, be careful of what you say and who you threaten otherwise you might find yourselves facing criminal charges.
I approached Barnaby Joyce (via Twitter) and asked him who are the lawyers he claims he is talking to in regards to #watergate but he has not responded. Are you also representing Barnaby Joyce?
If you would like to respond or make comment by 5pm Tuesday the 23rd of April 2019 I will be happy to add that as part of my article.
Regards
Shane Dowling
End of email
Angus Taylor’s lawyers never responded to the email nor did Angus Taylor sue the journalists.
The Angus Taylor – Barnaby Joyce $80 million #Watergate fraud involved a company associated with Angus Taylor, Eastern Australia Agriculture which is based in the Cayman Islands, receiving an $80 million windfall for selling water, that did not exist, to the federal government.
The Scott Morrison government gave Eastern Australia Agriculture another $2 million in February 2020 even after the first $80 million has been shown to be a blatant scam. I published an article titled “Scott Morrison steals another $2 million to give to the Angus Taylor Cayman Island family trust” on the 26/2/20 and said:
The Cayman Island company, Eastern Australia Agriculture, which was set up by federal MP Angus Taylor and corruptly given $80 million for water that didn’t exist will get another $2 million for water that may or may not exist.
With the original $80 million purchase, the then agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce, had to rig it so he could pay well above market value so he got rid of the requirement for a tender process which is standard for government departments and then paid $millions more above market rates.
How many $millions will Scott Morrison and the government give to Eastern Australia Agriculture before the next election?
The chances of Barnaby Joyce having his own Cayman Island account, which ownership of are basically untraceable, would have to be red hot and the chances of some of the stolen funds being in it would be red hot as well.
When Barnaby was questioned on who the financial beneficiary of the original $80 million he refused to say for a long time but eventually said in one interview that it was a family trust. Given that Angus Taylor set up the company, but claims he no longer has an interest, one has to conclude the family trust is owned or controlled by Angus Taylor or one of his family members. If that’s not the case Angus Taylor can correct the record by saying who the financial beneficiaries are which he would know but has refused to say.
One thing is for certain, both Angus Taylor and Barnaby Joyce know who is the financial beneficiary of the $8o million and who the true owners of Eastern Australia Agriculture are and given they won’t say it is fair and reasonable they have a lot to hide. In those circumstances, it is also fair and reasonable for the public to use all available evidence to draw conclusions.
What the new $2 million fraud shows is that the Scott Morrison government doesn’t care about being exposed acting corruptly. If they couldn’t tell us who was ultimately getting the $80 million before why are they sending more money to the Cayman Islands? (Click here to read the full article)
Former federal Liberal Party leader John Hewson wrote an article published in the SMH of Friday (17/7/20) which started off:
“Scott Morrison has stated he wants to govern in the “Howard tradition”, but sadly that has also entailed adopting the worst of John Howard’s strategies: to admit or explain as little as possible.” (Click here to read more)
Right on cue Scott Morrison and the government announced today, Saturday (18/7/20), that the next fortnight sitting of Federal Parliament has been cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis. The SMH reported:
Parliament was going to sit for a fortnight from August 4 but the next sitting week, in which the government can pass legislation and the opposition can scrutinise its agenda, will now be from August 24.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he did not believe it would be right to exclude parliamentarians from one state – in a reference to Victoria, where new cases have hit successive records in recent days. (Click here to read more)
Scott Morrison has cancelled parliament for one reason and one reason only. He doesn’t want the opposition politicians asking questions about government corruption like the Watergate fraud above which was exposed again last Thursday with the ANAO report.
And there are many other corruption scandals that Scott Morrison and the government don’t want to answer questions about either. They are playing the old game of dragging it out as long as possible hoping people will forget.
The politicians in Victoria, and NSW if need be, can easily watch the parliament proceedings on TV or the internet because they are broadcast live and if there is an issue with that then Hansard, which is a transcript of parliament proceedings, is published on a daily basis as well.
The politicians in federal government are in a better position than almost everyone else in the country to do their job remotely because of the fact that parliament is broadcast live and transcribed.
Scott Morrison has already cancelled numerous sitting days for parliament this year and he wants everyone else to go to work and school children to go to school etc but he cancels parliament because he doesn’t want to answer questions about all the government corruption scandals.
Like former federal Liberal Party leader John Hewson said, Morrison wants “to admit or explain as little as possible” and one of the best ways to do that is avoid being questioned in parliament which is exactly what he has done by cancelling parliament.
With the increased government spending during the Covid19 crisis, it leads to the increased possibility of fraud and that means there should be more scrutiny of government, not less.
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