Latest news with #IndependentCommissionAgainstCorruption
The Age
3 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Friend of schools boss worked on $600,000 contract before it was approved, ICAC hears
A long-time friend and colleague of former School Infrastructure NSW boss Anthony Manning received millions of dollars in contracts which either 'pushed the boundaries' of, or breached, government procurement rules, the state's anti-corruption watchdog has heard. In one case, Martin Berry, whom the Independent Commission Against Corruption has previously heard had known Manning as a friend and colleague since 2006, appeared to have begun work on a contract worth almost $600,000 about a month before it was approved 'outside normal procurement thresholds'. 'Cart before the horse stuff,' is how Paul Hannan, a senior Department of Education official who appeared before the commission on Friday, described it. 'Rare, super rare stuff,' he said during the second day of his extensive and often tense questioning by counsel assisting Jamie Darams. In total, ICAC has heard that between 2018 and 2022 Berry and his advisory firm, Heathwest, were engaged nine times by School Infrastructure and paid more than $3 million. The two men met in 2006 when Berry gave Manning a job in the Sydney office of consulting firm Turner & Townsend. They socialised together, and Manning organised Berry's buck's party and attended his wedding. They were both members of the 'Tom, Dick and Harry Breakfast Club' along with various other consultants who were also contracted to do work for the school building agency. Berry appeared in the witness stand for the first time on Friday afternoon, and Darams took him through a long history of text messages with Manning dating back to 2015 and early 2016. They boasted about cricket – both men are English, and took pleasure in their Ashes victory at Trent Bridge that year – arranged to catch up for beers on Sydney's northern beaches, and discussed work.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Friend of schools boss worked on $600,000 contract before it was approved, ICAC hears
A long-time friend and colleague of former School Infrastructure NSW boss Anthony Manning received millions of dollars in contracts which either 'pushed the boundaries' of, or breached, government procurement rules, the state's anti-corruption watchdog has heard. In one case, Martin Berry, whom the Independent Commission Against Corruption has previously heard had known Manning as a friend and colleague since 2006, appeared to have begun work on a contract worth almost $600,000 about a month before it was approved 'outside normal procurement thresholds'. 'Cart before the horse stuff,' is how Paul Hannan, a senior Department of Education official who appeared before the commission on Friday, described it. 'Rare, super rare stuff,' he said during the second day of his extensive and often tense questioning by counsel assisting Jamie Darams. In total, ICAC has heard that between 2018 and 2022 Berry and his advisory firm, Heathwest, were engaged nine times by School Infrastructure and paid more than $3 million. The two men met in 2006 when Berry gave Manning a job in the Sydney office of consulting firm Turner & Townsend. They socialised together, and Manning organised Berry's buck's party and attended his wedding. They were both members of the 'Tom, Dick and Harry Breakfast Club' along with various other consultants who were also contracted to do work for the school building agency. Berry appeared in the witness stand for the first time on Friday afternoon, and Darams took him through a long history of text messages with Manning dating back to 2015 and early 2016. They boasted about cricket – both men are English, and took pleasure in their Ashes victory at Trent Bridge that year – arranged to catch up for beers on Sydney's northern beaches, and discussed work.
HKFP
09-05-2025
- HKFP
Hong Kong anti-graft watchdog arrests 16 for alleged bribery in illegal vaping sales
Hong Kong's anti-corruption watchdog has arrested 16 people on suspicion of offering and accepting bribes for the illegal trading of e-cigarettes and vaping products in the city. Twelve men and four women, aged between 24 and 70, were apprehended by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in mid-April for their alleged involvement in a bribery scheme, the watchdog announced on Friday. The ICAC also confiscated more than 200,000 pieces of vaping products, worth around HK$20 million, calling it a 'record seizure' since the ban on e-cigarette sales took effect three years ago. According to the watchdog, seven of the suspects were members of an illegal e-cigarette sales syndicate, including a ringleader, his parents, his wife, and three employees involved in the operation. The rest of the suspects were a branch supervisor and frontline staff at a logistics company with two locations in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. The syndicate operated an online shop selling e-cigarettes and used the logistics company to deliver products to their customers, the ICAC said. After Hong Kong banned the sale of e-cigarettes and other alternative smoking products on April 30, 2022, the logistics company stopped accepting orders involving the delivery of such products and ordered its staff to inspect parcels from customers. The watchdog alleged that the syndicate offered bribes to the company's employees to circumvent the inspection policy. The arrested employees helped the syndicate deliver around 200 parcels daily and took bribes of up to HK$20 per package, the ICAC said. The 2022 ban also prohibits anyone from importing, promoting, manufacturing, or possessing alternative smoking products for commercial purposes. In a bid to further curb smoking, Hong Kong authorities are proposing to outlaw the possession of e-cigarettes and other alternative smoking products in public by the end of April next year. The government also seeks to widen the statutory non-smoking areas and ban the sale of flavoured traditional smoking products.
Sydney Morning Herald
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The ICAC blockbuster is back
In NSW, there's no drama quite like an ICAC drama. At times, it feels as if Sydney is ground zero of corruption in Australia. How much of that perception is down to the Independent Commission Against Corruption's high-profile work, and how much is because our politicians, public servants and institutions may somehow be more prone to corruption? It's hard to tell. But either way, we've had some blockbuster inquiries over the years. Who can forget the ICAC's landmark investigations into former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald, Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly? Or the bottle of Grange that forced Barry O'Farrell to resign as premier? Or Operation Keppel, the inquiry into former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, which ended the political career of Gladys Berejiklian? And let's not forget the sex-for-development scandal at Wollongong City Council. However, a major inquiry is now under way into school infrastructure, and an even bigger one looms on the horizon involving the Hills Shire Council, the NSW Liberal Party and several property developers. Education reporter Christopher Harris and state political reporter Michael McGowan have done a terrific job this week covering public hearings into allegations the former head of the NSW Department of Education's school building unit intentionally subverted recruitment practices to benefit friends and business associates, and improperly awarded contracts to friends and business associates. Loading Anthony Manning, who headed the department's school infrastructure unit from 2017 until last year, is the subject of the probe but others are in the ICAC's sights, too. In one example of alleged misconduct, counsel assisting Jamie Darams outlined the long relationship between Manning and a former colleague, Stuart Suthern-Brunt, whom Manning had met while they worked together in health infrastructure. 'They also went cycling together as frequently as every week, and later went to spin classes and yoga together. They met up regularly for coffees, breakfast, lunch, dinners and drinks, including with their partners. Mr Suthern-Brunt invited Mr Manning to his daughter's 21st birthday party.'
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong anti-corruption agency arrests 16 linked to vape shop bribery scheme
Hong Kong's anti-corruption agency has foiled a graft operation involving a local vape shop and delivery workers, who allegedly collected bribes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month. Advertisement Eric Chan Cheuk-hay, principal investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, said on Friday that the agency had arrested 16 in connection with the case last month, seizing more than 200,000 vape pens and oil pellets worth over HK$20 million (US$2.6 million). 'The new law [in 2022] and corresponding policies of the logistics company had made it difficult to send goods to customers. Therefore, they resorted to bribing delivery workers to bypass the company's checks,' Chan said. Hong Kong banned alternative smoking products, including electronic cigarettes, in April 2022 by outlawing the import, sales, promotion, manufacturing, and possession for commercial purposes. The e-cigarette shop's operations are therefore illegal under the 2022 legal amendment. Advertisement The arrests were made last month, after a complaint in mid-2024 triggered a six-month investigation by the agency into the online vape shop's operations. Those arrested were nine staff members of an established local delivery firm and seven people running an online shop selling vape pens and pellets. Those linked to the shop were a 40-year-old man who led the shop's operations, his parents and wife, as well as three employees.
