A company director who lent Adam Hardinge a bobcat to use at his Golden Square property without charge in 2012, would later also provide anti-corruption investigators with a free character assessment of the former Bendigo Health construction manager.

“Hardinge is the sort of person that if you kept him happy, the more he would look after you, but if you got on his wrong side or out of favour with him, the less work and opportunity you would have to get work with Bendigo Health,” the director said.

The five days Mr Hardinge made use of the loader would have cost anyone else $1500.

The exchange is contained in an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission report into its investigation of Mr Hardinge and hospital CEO John Mulder, tabled in parliament on Thursday.

The probe revealed Mr Hardinge “frequently ignored” Bendigo Health’s procurement policies, took property and materials without proper authorisation and circumvented procurement controls for the benefit of himself and certain contractors.

IBAC investigators also discovered Mr Hardinge enjoyed food and expensive wine at the expense of two companies involved in the new hospital build and directed a local restaurant to contact one company director working on the project to cover a $1153 bill.

The director told the commission he paid the bill as he thought his company could keep Mr Hardinge “sweet” and quote on more jobs for Bendigo Health work. 

Previously, another company director and an apprentice had spent four days working at Mr Hardinge’s Golden Square property, and while Mr Hardinge offered to pay for the work, the director declined as he believed it could jeopardise future opportunities at Bendigo Health, and paid his apprentice out of his own pocket.

At the same time, Mr Hardinge was also exploiting his position with Bendigo Health employees, the report revealed.

In late 2012, he instructed two employees within his division to take three weeks’ unpaid leave to work on his property in Golden Square.

“Although Mr Hardinge paid for their time, one of the employees said they felt unable to refuse to take the leave as they feared for their job,” the report reads.

“Another of the employees said that Mr Hardinge seemed to have little or no regard for policies and procedures, particularly in relation to procurement and the selling of scrap, and that he was not answerable to anyone.”

The investigation established Mr Hardinge directed his staff to have more than $21,000 received in exchange for scrap metal belonging to the hospital paid into his family trust.

“One Bendigo Health employee said Mr Hardinge told him that he intended to use the scrap proceeds deposited into this bank account for the end of year Christmas party,” the report reads.

“There is no indication that he did so.”

The investigation also concluded Mr Hardinge used Bendigo Health materials in renovations to his private residence without proper authorisation and arranged for the sale of a $70,000 electrical transformer belonging to the hospital to a contractor for a fraction of its full cost.

The report states Mr Hardinge often purchased goods either by retrospectively raising a purchase order or by creating a false purchase number by transcribing the date backwards and adding the purchaser’s initials, allowing the purchase to proceed without proper scrutiny.

“Mr Hardinge would then direct one of his staff to retrospectively raise a legitimate purchase order number. In this way, Mr Hardinge purchased many items for use on his home renovation,” it reads.

Mr Hardinge pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft, one charge of obtaining property by deception and one charge of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception and was convicted on all charges in October last year.

He was fined $15,000 in relation to the thefts, and gave an undertaking to pay $5000 to the Bendigo Health Foundation.

IBAC investigators concluded Mr Hardinge’s conduct involved a lack of adequate oversight by his manager, which effectively empowered him “to do as he pleased, behaving in a manner that was inconsistent with the Victorian Public Sector Code of Conduct and Bendigo Health values”.

Mr Hardinge’s manager resigned from his position at Bendigo Health in 2015.