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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Lucy Bladen

Court action to stop release of CIT corruption investigation report

The corruption watchdog has completed its interim report into a series of contracts worth more than $8.5 million by the Canberra Institute of Technology to a "complexity and systems thinker".

The ACT Integrity Commission has confirmed it was due to provide its report to Legislative Assembly Speaker Joy Burch on Wednesday but a person has sought an injunction against giving the report to the Speaker.

The court has suppressed the name of the person who has sought the injunction.

The application is due to be heard on Friday and the commission has decided against releasing the report.

"Following the completion of procedural fairness requirements under the Integrity Commission Act 2018 (the Act), the commissioner's special report into an aspect of its Operation Luna investigation has been completed," a commission spokesperson said.

"Pursuant to the requirements of the act, when completed such a report must be given to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for tabling in the Assembly and publication on the commission's website.

An Integrity Commission report examining contracts awarded by CIT was due to be handed over on Wednesday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong

"Interested parties were informed on Friday 14 June 2024 of the commissioner's intention to provide the report to the Speaker today.

"One of those persons has commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court seeking an injunction to prevent the commissioner from giving the report to the Speaker."

The stood-down chief executive of CIT Leanne Cover resigned from her position on Tuesday.

More than $8.5 million was awarded to companies owned by Patrick Hollingworth over a five-year period to help with organisation transformation. These include Think Garden and Redrouge Nominees.

The watchdog has been investigating the matter for two years.

The first findings from the commission's investigation are expected to be released before the end of the month. The report was distributed to 35 people in November.

Under law, the commission was required to give affected parties a minimum of six weeks to respond. Parties are able to request an extension and some were granted extra time to respond.

The attempted injunction comes after the head of the ACT Education Directorate launched a legal bid to shut down a corruption investigation examining her and other directorate officials.

Director-general Katy Haire is suing the ACT Integrity Commission and integrity commissioner Michael Adams KC, alleging there is an apprehended bias in the investigation into the procurement for an expansion of Campbell Primary School.

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