The tax leaks scandal engulfing PricewaterhouseCoopers has been referred to the newly formed National Anti-Corruption Commission, as the accounting firm sacks eight partners for professional governance breaches.
The new federal corruption watchdog that commenced operating Friday will likely turn its sights first on the award of public grants, and is expected to face a “huge backlog” of referrals.
Former premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian and her ex-boyfriend, former member for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire, engaged in “serious corrupt conduct”, ICAC has found.
Holding Redlich has been given a reprieve from putting on a defence in a lawsuit by the NSW Labor Party alleging the law firm was negligent in advice over a $100,000 illegal cash donation delivered in an Aldi shopping bag.
Law firm Holding Redlich has been sued by the NSW Labor Party for allegedly providing negligent advice on $100,000 in illegal political donations delivered in an Aldi bag and the ICAC investigation that followed, setting the party back $1.8 million in legal costs.
Highly anticipated legislation creating a federal anti-corruption commission has received unanimous support and could pass by the end of the year, but a fight may be on the horizon over the commission’s power to conduct public hearings.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has announced legislation to establish a federal anti-corruption commission by mid-2023, pledging $262 million over four years to the body, which will have broad and retrospective powers to investigate public corruption.
The NSW Independent Commission has found that pork barrelling, in which a minister directs public funds for partisan political purposes, could sometimes amount to criminal corruption and has called for better regulation of grants funding.
A former manager at the NSW Roads and Maritime Services awarded over $12.2 million in government contracts to two companies owned by his friends, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has found.
A former Fair Work Commission vice president has sued the ABC for allegedly tricking him into participating in a Four Corners interview about his relationship with controversial union figure Kathy Jackson, who was found to have misused $1.4 million in union funds.