WA's corruption watchdog has detailed how two people working for the Department of Communities in WA allegedly broke the rules to reap the benefits of expensive gifts and hospitality at luxury restaurants.
A Corruption and Crime Commission report tabled in state parliament on Tuesday found Kerry Ravi and Maria Irdi allegedly disclosed competitors' pricing information and manipulated tender processes to benefit accounting firm Grant Thornton and law firm MinterEllison.
In exchange, the report said the women allegedly enjoyed all-expenses paid meals at Perth restaurants including Silks, Rockpool, Epicurean, Balthazar, Zafferanos, Matilda Bay, Perugino's, C Restaurant and Crown Nobu between 2012 and 2020.
They also allegedly received gifts from Grant Thornton, including alcohol, flowers, corporate box football tickets, tennis tickets, international basketball game tickets, and expensive glassware at Christmas time.
The pair also allegedly enjoyed corporate box tennis tickets and spa vouchers, courtesy of MinterEllison.
The report found Ms Ravi and Ms Irdi were allegedly responsible for ensuring that more than $7 million worth of speciality consulting work went to those firms.
This allegedly involved the frequent disclosure of competitors' pricing information and the manipulation of tender processes.
'Put everything on Paul'
Mrs Ravi was a career public servant who had spent 20 years working at Country Housing before joining the Department of Communities (DoC), where her roles included working as an executive assistant to disgraced public servant Paul Whyte.
Whyte was last year jailed for 12 years after masterminding the theft of $27 million from the department and using it to fund a lavish lifestyle.
In its report, the CCC said it would be easy to blame Mr Whyte for actions of Mrs Ravi and Ms Irdi.
And in an intercepted phone call, it found the pair had allegedly agreed they would try to do just that:
Ms Irdi: "Put everything on Paul."
Mrs Ravi: "I'm going to."
But the CCC found there was "no real reason to think Mr Whyte was actively involved in the wrongdoing in this report".
That instance was far from the only time the CCC found the pair had allegedly breached the rules by discussing and planning their evidence with one another.
They were also found to have allegedly discussed evidence with people from Grant Thornton and Minter Ellison.
Ms Irdi was a chartered accountant who had previously worked at Grant Thornton.
Attempts allegedly made to conceal gifts
The CCC gave an opinion that Mrs Ravi, a long-term employee of the department, had allegedly engaged in serious misconduct over a number of years.
The Commission was not able to form an opinion in relation to Ms Irdi because although she had worked for the department for eight years, she was not technically a "public officer" as she had been engaged via consulting and labour hire firms.
The CCC said the alleged gifts and hospitality were a clear conflict of interest, but none were allegedly declared and "in fact, attempts were made to conceal the receipt of gifts".
Mrs Ravi and Ms Irdi were also found to have allegedly manipulated itineraries for a number of interstate 'work' trips, which were allegedly paid for by Grant Thornton.
The report detailed how itineraries were allegedly manipulated to give the pair extra time away, which on occasion was allegedly spent sightseeing or visiting theme parks but allegedly documented as time spent working.
Correspondence also revealed how a close relative of Mrs Ravi was allegedly given a job at Grant Thornton in Perth, despite not having any relevant skills or there being a requirement for their services.
Project ran with lack of supervision
The pair began working together after Mrs Ravi was put in charge of a DoC project with the aim of recouping an historical overpayment of GST by the department and prevent future overpayments.
The project was named Value For Money (VFM) and Ms Irdi was brought on as a consultant to help run it.
According to the CCC, at the time of their appointment, neither Mrs Ravi or Ms Irdi had expertise in GST and neither were later closely supervised.
Between 2012 and 2020, it found they allegedly took advantage of the lack of supervision to procure benefits for themselves.
But over that period, the VFM project did in fact deliver substantial GST savings in the form of refunds and ongoing savings.
Behaviour 'unacceptable': law firm
In a statement, MinterEllison chief executive Virginia Briggs said the firm fully cooperated with the CCC investigation.
"We take matters of this nature extremely seriously, and this unacceptable behaviour is entirely inconsistent with the high standards we hold ourselves accountable to," she said.
Ms Briggs said a former partner of the firm had allegedly acted alone and they had since been stood down when the board was made aware of the allegations.
"While this behaviour is isolated, it is clear that the processes underpinning our policies require strengthening, and we have initiated a program of changes to achieve this," she said.
The statement also listed several measures the firm had taken to prevent such events from occurring again, including improving whistle-blower processes and regular checks of expense activity.
Partner left accounting firm
A spokesperson for Grant Thornton also said that in 2018, the firm had identified an issue related to these matters and launched its own internal investigation.
"We immediately engaged with the partner concerned and he subsequently left the firm," the company's spokesperson said.
"We have since conducted an extensive revision and strengthening of our policies and training, particularly in relation to work for government clients.
"Grant Thornton stands by the quality of its work with the Department, which was highly skilled, specialist tax advice, completed to a high standard at reasonable cost.
"Grant Thornton is committed to good governance, and we treat this matter extremely seriously. We'll consider this report carefully and take appropriate further action as required."
The CCC noted in its report that the Commission "does not suggest that those firms were incompetent or failed to obtain a successful outcome for DoC and that MinterEllison had helped obtain a favourable outcome from the ATO".
But the report said Grant Thornton and MinterEllison were not uniquely qualified to do GST work for the DoC.
