In response to State Parliament aspirant Gaelle Broad’s call for cultural change (Bendigo Advertiser, 17 September), I continue to be amazed by the number of people who are prepared to reference the IBAC investigation of Bendigo Health as an example of inappropriate conduct in public office.
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None so far has reflected any appreciation of the facts of that investigation and none have inspected the independent evidence that confirms all of the adverse comments relating to my behavior published in the Operation Liverpool report are completely baseless.
For the record. A review of the allegations against me relating to salary packaging arrangements by RSM Bird Cameron Australia and Grant Thornton Australia, two of the most knowledgeable and respected experts in what is a very complex area of taxation law, found “no wrong doing by me or any other Bendigo Health executive”.
Following the publication of the Operation Liverpool report all allegations against me by IBAC and the associated evidence was reviewed by CPA (Certified Practicing Accountants) Australia. That organisation takes allegations of inappropriate conduct against its members very seriously. Following an extensive deliberation CPA Australia found that I “had no case to answer and they consider the matter closed”.
Throughout the investigation the allegations and available evidence were also reviewed by a QC, a barrister, a criminal lawyer and two employment lawyers and they also reached the same conclusion. That being: “It is unfathomable that any of the allegations in the Operation Liverpool report (against me) could possibly be sustained on the balance of probabilities test.” That evidence was submitted to IBAC and ignored.
Surely these experts couldn’t all be wrong and former police officers, then working for IBAC, with no knowledge of the complex taxation laws they were interpreting, were right. The fact is, these complex matters being investigated by IBAC, are easily misunderstood or easily misrepresented. If there was any evidence that I had knowingly taken a benefit inappropriately for personal use without intending to pay, I would have been before the courts.
IBAC had my phone tapped for an extended period and had access to every email and SMS message between myself and all parties investigated and still found not one comment reflecting intent by me to take an advantage to which I was not entitled. Anybody who reads the full report, separates the facts from the stories and then reviews all of the expert independent evidence, is left with one of only two possible conclusions: Either the Operation Liverpool investigation and published report is an example of gross incompetence by IBAC; or the report was a deliberate stitch up and shocking abuse of the protection given to IBAC by the Parliament of Victoria, in order to justify an obscene waste of taxpayers’ money. No other conclusion is possible. My lawyers estimate the total cost of the Operation Liverpool exercise at in excess of $10M and the meter is still running.
READ MORE: IBAC releases report into Bendigo Health
The investigation achieved no good and caused considerable damage. That money could today treat every single person waiting for care on the Bendigo Health elective surgery waiting list. Let’s see what those people think. None of us should have sympathy for a person charged and convicted of wrongdoing in a real court of law in this country. However when you read any published adverse comment by IBAC about an individual without charges being laid, keep in mind that those comments are published by IBAC knowing that they have the full protection of the Parliament of Victoria from any subsequent litigation by the person who believes that they have been defamed.
I know the State Cabinet that created IBAC never intended the legislation to be abused in this fashion but that is exactly what happened in the Operation Liverpool report.
If Gaelle Broad is successful in her attempt to join State Parliament I hope she never finds herself in the Collins Street Star Chamber (IBAC Head Office) because if she does, they will be among the most unpleasant days of her life, even if she also has done little wrong.
John Mulder, Labasa Fiji
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