Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog has found “serious failures” by senior public servants, who allegedly concealed a suspected $285 million Covid-19 grant scandal.
In a special report on Operation Harmonia, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) found that about $257 million went to more than 9000 ineligible applicants under the Business Costs Assistance Program. Of that, $108 million was paid to businesses that reported zero turnover between July 2019 and July 2022.
The department’s own analysis indicated that total suspected losses across its Covid-19 programs may have exceeded $285 million.
IBAC found the concealment was driven by senior executives at the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions under the Andrews government. The Deputy Secretary directed staff to remove the losses from a draft financial report, and the Associate Secretary then withheld the figures from the Secretary, preventing former minister Martin Pakula from being informed.
As of April this year, the department had recovered only $8 million of the misallocated funds, with a further $5 million under repayment plans.
