Whistleblowers have exposed the fact that a serious corruption investigation into allegedly corrupt Border Force officers has gone nowhere even though the investigation finished long ago, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) are sitting on a final report.
Before we look at the whistleblowers allegations it should be noted that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) only started operations on the 1st of July 2023 so we should not expect too much at this point.
The NACC recently announced its first 2 criminal charges from its work.
On the 13th of March 2024 the NACC announced: Operation Barker
A former Australian Taxation Office (ATO) employee has been sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment for corrupt conduct, including accepting bribes from a taxpayer they were auditing, in exchange for reducing millions of dollars in personal and business tax debts over a span of 6 years, which ceased only after the former employee’s arrest.
Following a guilty plea in July 2023, the Parramatta District Court, on 12 March 2024, convicted the offender of several contraventions of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, including accepting a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of public office, and unauthorised access and disclosure of restricted data.
The Court sentenced the offender to 5 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 6 months.
The case stems from Operation Barker, a joint investigation led by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) and the ATO. ACLEI was subsumed into the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on 1 July 2023, and the NACC took on responsibility for Operation Barker and other investigations. (Click here to read more)
On the 28th of March 2024 the NACC announced: Operation Pelican
A former employee of the Western Sydney Airport (WSA) has been charged with allegedly soliciting a bribe of $200,000, during the procurement process for a contract to provide services at the airport worth an estimated $5 million.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) carried out an arrest yesterday, 27 March 2024, on behalf of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (the Commission), following a joint investigation.
The individual was formally charged with soliciting a corrupt commission, under section 249B of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).
The individual has been bailed to appear before Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 18 April 2024.
WSA is considered a Commonwealth agency for the purposes of the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (Cth). Its employees and officers are therefore Commonwealth public officials and within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
The Commission acknowledges the timely and proactive actions of WSA in referring the matter to the Commission and the AFP. WSA’s cooperation was a key enabler of the investigation.
National Anti-Corruption Commissioner, the Hon Paul Brereton AM RFD SC, has chosen to publicise the charge to highlight the risk of corruption in high value and complex procurements in the Commonwealth sector.
Yesterday’s charge is the first in an investigation initiated by the Commission. It follows convictions and sentencing in three other matters that were inherited by the Commission from the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity.
As the matter is now before the courts, the Commission will not be making further comment. (Click here to read more)
Both of the above matters, while positive steps in reducing corruption, are low hanging fruit compared with other known corruption like Peter Dutton’s dodgy $1.8 billion deal with Canstruct who had no staff, no revenue and no assets. I would expect that the NACC are currently investigating the Construct scam.
On the 27th of April 2024 the SMH reported an article titled “A drug trafficker, a burner phone and an open door at our border” which start off:
A secret corruption inquiry has probed claims the Australian Border Force’s most sensitive division was infiltrated by a criminal syndicate and raised concerns about large-scale traffickers exploiting law enforcement weak points.
Among the inquiry’s damning discoveries is evidence that a “burner” mobile phone was passed to a senior official in Border Force’s Human Source Unit by associates of Noureddean Jamal, a convicted drug supplier whose brother is in jail for terrorism offences.
The unit was launched in 2018 to cultivate underworld informers to combat the flow of drugs into Australia and rorting of the visa system.
The inquiry also found that three unit members attempted to launch a private security and intelligence firm at the same time as safeguarding the nation’s borders, sourcing seed money from an associate of Jamal.
Despite the allegations already prompting the quiet scrapping of the 40-person Border Force division after only a few years, the corruption probe remains incomplete after four years.
The new National Anti-Corruption Commission inherited the probe from its predecessor, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. The case now looms as an early test of how the nation’s anti-corruption chief, Paul Brereton, will handle corruption inquiries.
Seven law enforcement sources, who spoke to this masthead anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly, raised concerns that the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity’s handling of the allegations had led to no public accountability about what went wrong inside Border Force.
“Four years after this was uncovered, it seems like it has all been swept under the rug,” said one federal law enforcement official.
A senior state police officer said: “If this had happened in the NSW or Victorian police force, there would have been public anti-corruption hearings and reports to parliament. There is one rule for state cops, and one rule for federal officials. If the NACC doesn’t change that, it will have failed.” (Click here to read the full article)
It’s great to see whistleblowers raising questions about the NACC’s credibility and performance and hopefully more NACC whistleblowers will come forward in the future if need be.
This website is an anti-corruption website so it is no surprise that I will be following the NACC very closely and the above is a follow up to the article I published in February 2024 titled “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese biggest election lie. The NACC scam exposed further!” which starts off:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised voters he would clean up government corruption, with a genuine National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), when he was campaigning for the 2022 federal election. But as every day goes by more evidence comes to hand that makes it clearer that was a big lie by Albanese and the Labor Party.
The latest evidence of the big NACC lie is Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus being exposed for trying to appoint Labor Party crony Stephen Rothman, who is a NSW Supreme Court judge, as a deputy commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. (Click here to read more)
While the jury is still out regarding whether or not the NACC will have much success, one thing that is unsustainable is the rule meaning that all NACC hearings are in private except in “exceptional circumstances”.
The “exceptional circumstances” criteria to justify public hearings was designed to protect corrupt politicians and the longer it stays in place the faster the NACC’s credibility will be destroyed.
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Categories: Peter Dutton, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
The cowardice of the labor party and the corruption of the LNP has never been starker than their fake national ICAAC designed to fool the dumb public while allowing political corruption to flourish as usual
“…the NACC’s credibility will be destroyed.”
It was destroyed the moment Labor and the Liberals colluded to make it secret.
I had such high hopes for the NACC, and Idk, I really do feel that Albo was being genuine about exposing government corruption when he announced it as an election promise, but he hasn’t had the tenacity to fight for the NACC we all envisioned, or perhaps I was blinded by hope & Albo never intended to see it through & it was all a big lie -either way I’m bitterly disappointed.
Politicians number one priority isn’t what is in the Australian public’s best interests, it’s doing whatever they have to do to stay in power. We may elect our politicians, but we don’t elect those who are pulling their strings.
Thanks again for your commitment to exposing the truth
Politicians, they are all Honourable, hahahahahahaha. Remove the title.
No politician has the right to use the title now as it was granted under our Queen. None are honourable when found wanting and should be called to account for all breaches of conduct imo
I express my deep disappointment and concern regarding the current state of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). Despite the significant promises and attention, it received prior to the last Australian federal election, the NACC now appears to be falling short of expectations and lacking effectiveness.
As a citizen invested in the principles of democracy and the rule of law, I am reminded of Aristotle’s insights on the Rule of Law and the importance of both the quality of laws and the integrity of those who enforce them.
While the NACC was intended to serve as a vital mechanism for combating corruption and upholding the rule of law, its current status as a non-entity raises serious doubts about its ability to fulfil this crucial role.
The question of whether it is better to be ruled by the best man or the best laws, as posed by Aristotle, remains pertinent today. However, it is clear that effective governance requires both sound legislation and robust institutions capable of enforcing it impartially and effectively.
Unfortunately, the current state of the NACC suggests that political considerations continue to undermine its ability to fulfil its mandate.
I remain deeply troubled by the apparent disconnect between the promises made regarding the NACC and its current reality. As a democracy, Australia deserves a strong and effective anti-corruption body that is capable of holding those in power accountable and safeguarding the integrity of our democratic institutions.
Low fruit indeed.
We’re all waiting to see some serious heads roll.
One hopes that in the back office of the NACC staff are beavering away over files headed “Joyce”, “Taylor”, “Roberts” … pffft basically, the recent 9 year LNP government.
What they did during their term warrants an entire NACC of its own.