A key witness in the ACT Integrity Commission's investigation into the procurement for an expansion of Campbell Primary School unsuccessfully launched a legal bid to stop recent public hearings.
Joshua Ceramidas sought an injunction on the commission's intention to hold public submissions ahead of the hearings taking place last month, court documents show.
Lawyers for the former chief of staff for Education Minister Yvette Berry argued the process should take place in private due to reputational risks and an allegation of apprehended bias from the commission.
During the public submissions process, counsel assisting the Integrity Commission set out various findings available to the commissioner. Lawyers for affected parties were able to respond to this submission.
The corruption watchdog is examining whether public officials failed to exercise their official functions honestly and impartially while handling the procurement for the school's expansion in 2019 and 2020.
The tender was awarded to Lendlease despite Manteena scoring better by two separate evaluation teams. The commission has heard allegations of influence from the CFMEU and Ms Berry's office. Mr Ceramidas has strongly denied allegations he influenced the outcome of the tender.
Counsel assisting said there was an available finding to Integrity Commissioner Michael Adams KC that Mr Ceramidas had allegedly engaged in corrupt conduct if he accepted a version of events presented by a witness John Green, a pseudonym, who was an education official. Lawyers for Mr Ceramidas have sought to strongly discredit Mr Green's evidence.
A Supreme Court judgment from the injunction, showed Mr Ceramidas argued the allegation of corrupt conduct could not be undone "even if he were to be exonerated".
The former chief of staff sought to have the public submissions process in private but this was rejected by the commission. This prompted the attempted injunction, which was launched on July 1 2024 was heard on July 5. The public submissions process began the following week on July 8.
There was a suppression order on Mr Ceramidas' identity in the legal proceedings but this was lifted on Monday.
Court documents showed Mr Ceramidas submitted there was "a real chance the commissioner will not find that he has engaged in serious corrupt conduct" and the "stain of the allegation will remain no matter how comprehensively he is cleared".
He supported the private hearings being recorded, saying they could be released following the outcome of the judicial review being sought by the former chief of staff.
Mr Ceramidas also made an allegation of an apprehended bias from the commission. His lawyers alleged this was because the commissioner had made nine public statements that submissions would be held in public.
The commission made the first statement about the public submissions process last December but hearings were delayed three times.
Mr Ceramidas submitted to the court statements had occurred before the commission had received the submissions from affected parties and the public statements meant the commission had locked itself into a position of having public hearings and would be embarrassed if they did not go ahead with this.
The assertion of apprehended bias was rejected by the court, with Acting Justice Michael Elkaim saying he believed the commissioner gave a full consideration of Mr Ceramidas' arguments to have the hearings in private.
Acting Justice Elkaim agreed with an argument by the Integrity Commission "almost all" of the evidence that might affect Mr Ceramidas' reputation was already in the public arena.
Witnesses were examined in public hearings last year. Mr Ceramidas was granted an exemption from the commission for a public examination but he provided a written statement.
Education Directorate director-general Katy Haire is taking separate action against the commission, also alleging apprehended bias from the commission. A court hearing for that will take place in November.
Former chief executive of the Canberra Institute of Technology Leanne Cover also unsuccessfully sought an injunction on the release of a report which found she had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct".
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said these court actions hindered the work of the commission. She said it was recently revealed the commission has spent nearly $100,000 on defending itself in these proceedings.
"This is the third court action in as many months that has sought to shut down an ongoing Integrity Commission investigation," she said.
"Many Canberrans have expressed significant concern about the time taken for Integrity Commission investigations to be completed and these multiple court actions are diverting resources and funding that could be progressing the investigations."
