In 2020, as coronavirus swept the world and NSW drifted in and out of lockdown, Sydney Catholic Schools decided it was the perfect time to tackle a growing crisis.
In many ways, the organisation was in rude health. It was teaching some 70,000 students across the city, and was in happy receipt of its annual $800 million from the taxpayer.
But its school facilities were old, and growing older. Many of its 147 campuses were reporting pressing maintenance problems, and a large-scale renewal program was now urgent.
The organisation drew up a five-year, billion-dollar budget for the building of new schools and the refurbishment of existing ones, and by mid-way through that year, it cast about for the right person to lead the ambitious project.
Justine Mercer-Moore, a civil engineer with a degree from Liverpool in the UK, was a senior infrastructure executive with a glittering CV, boasting of everything from managing a $600 million hotel development in Dubai to leading a $22 million federal government health program for Indigenous communities.
She seemed perfect. Offered a salary of more than $200,000, and a leading role managing a $1.8 billion program of what she described as "enterprise transformation", Ms Mercer-Moore gladly accepted, and began work in September 2020.
In the end, however, her tenure at Sydney Catholic Schools would be short, and marked less by the building of infrastructure and more by scandal and allegations of conspiracy that saw her depart under a cloud.
Within just months of starting in her new role, questions were being raised internally about her methods.
Despite Sydney Catholic Schools employing its own recruitment team, and operating a significant human resources department, Ms Mercer-Moore instead created a new panel of external recruitment agencies to bring in contractors.
"It was strange because the process was backwards," one former SCS figure recalled. Ordinarily, the organisation might only call upon third parties if its own recruitment efforts had been unsuccessful.
Another former official of the organisation recalled that, "it was more of a concern about process".
"Have we asked for permission for [that] engagement and has there been a process?" they told the ABC.
"That's when we dug a little deeper."
Who is Arthur Thorogood?
Staff at the organisation who had visibility of these new hirings noticed recruitment fees – worth as much as $30,000 per contractor – were being charged by an agency they didn't recognise: Fusion Global Resources Pty Ltd.
The Fusion representative on the documents was one "Arthur Thorogood". The name raised eyebrows. No-one could remember having met him.
At Sydney Catholic Schools, financial rectitude was paramount; about 80 per cent of its funding comes from the taxpayer.
Yet, in less than a year, the property renewal program being led by Ms Mercer-Moore had used the mysterious company on no fewer than 14 occasions. In all, agency fees worth almost $400,000 were paid to Fusion.
But who was behind it?
Fusion's website is a bare-bones affair, which offers no details as to its executives or owners.
It lists offices in Dubai, London, San Francisco and North Sydney.
Strangely, the phone numbers listed for its Dubai and London offices are both missing the normal number of digits for each jurisdiction, and calls to those numbers cannot be connected. Calls to its San Francisco office, meanwhile, are answered by an automated message which says that number has been disconnected.
Another automated message answers the phone number listed for its North Sydney office but offers no means by which to leave a voicemail: "Announcement. No-one is available to take your call … goodbye."
Back at Sydney Catholic Schools, one new member of Ms Mercer-Moore's team mentioned in passing that he had come on board after working with her previously.
But rather than applying directly to her new employer, he had used Fusion Global Resources to land the job instead. This had the effect of generating agency fees for the company.
The obvious question arose: "If you (Sydney Catholic Schools project leader Ms Mercer-Moore) have worked with them before, why are you (Sydney Catholic Schools) paying agency fees [for them]?"
This staffer, who has also since left the charitable organisation, told the ABC he could not comment because of a non-disclosure agreement he had signed on his departure.
Husband worked for mystery firm
At one point in 2021, a memo was circulated internally reminding executives and others of the need to disclose any conflicts of interest.
That's when, in the memory of one SCS official, Justine Mercer-Moore "mentions in conversation … [that] her husband works there [at Fusion]".
She later put in writing what she had said verbally – that her husband worked for the mystery firm.
But several current and former senior executives at Sydney Catholic Schools described her declarations as inadequate.
One said that they "didn't disclose the [extent of the] relationship with Fusion and what was [really] going on", and that they were only issued after questions were being raised about the company.
Junior staff became more and more curious about the Mr Thorogood who appeared on Fusion's emails, most of which dealt with mundane, transactional matters.
The internet yielded little, and searches of LinkedIn, the world's most popular corporate networking site, also ran aground; it reported no Arthur Thorogood associated with Fusion Global Resources.
One enterprising employee of Sydney Catholic Schools decided to run an internet search of the mobile number with which Arthur Thorogood had signed off his emails.
That search produced only one sensible hit, a list of "mortgage brokers in Leichhardt", which happened to be the same suburb of Sydney that Justine Mercer-Moore called home.
But the name against which that same phone number appeared was not an Arthur Thorogood.
The person listed was one Daniel Moore.
A search of Fusion Global Resources Pty Ltd on the Australian companies register produced another shock: its sole director and shareholder was a Daniel John Moore, who lived not just in the same suburb as Justine Mercer-Moore, but in the same house.
In fact, Daniel and Justine are married, live together, and have been co-shareholders in a number of companies including Mercer Moore Proprietary Limited, Heads for Business Pty Ltd, and Zster Global Pty Ltd.
The pair are both listed as owners of the house in Leichhardt, and, through one of their shared companies, they also co-own an investment property at Cambridge Park, near Penrith.
The alarm bells now deafening, Sydney Catholic Schools roused itself into action and opened a formal investigation.
Justine Mercer-Moore was stood down, and she never returned.
When approached by the ABC, Ms Mercer-Moore said that "prior to FSG [Fusion Global Resources] being approved, I informed the Director of Finance & Property that I had a potential conflict of interest as my husband worked for FSG. The conflict of interest was subsequently formally documented".
She said the decision to use Fusion was taken "in consultation with the Director of People & Culture and the Director of Finance & Property".
"The commercial arrangements between SCS and the external recruitment firms were managed by People & Culture. Requests for candidates were sent to all three recruitment firms and resumes submitted were shared internally as appropriate for the position. Interviews with potential candidates were conducted by a panel."
"I resigned from SCS in January 2022 for personal reasons."
Daniel Mercer-Moore sent the ABC a statement on behalf of the company.
"Fusion Global was approached by Sydney Catholic Schools in late 2020 to sit on a panel with two other recruitment providers. Recruitment services were provided to Sydney Catholic Schools for which it paid market rates."
Arthur Thorogood might be fictional, investigator surmised
In the end, the audit and risk committee of the board of Sydney Catholic Schools was told the investigation into Justine Mercer-Moore was not able to be concluded.
There were two central problems. One was her apparent lack of cooperation with the inquiry.
The other, in the words of one former executive, was "because we could not find this Arthur Thorogood".
"The investigator surmised that person might be fictional."
Another official at SCS said: "It was put to her that Arthur Thorogood was an alias for her husband, but she did not provide a response prior to leaving."
Indeed, neither Justine nor Daniel answered the ABC's questions about the mysterious "Arthur Thorogood".
The investigation did come to some preliminary findings, however, including that Ms Mercer-Moore failed to fully and accurately declare her conflict of interest, and that there had been a breach of the code of conduct.
Sydney Catholic Schools decided not to try to recover the money, nor to refer the matter to the police.
A spokesperson for Sydney Catholic Schools told the ABC: "Issues, similar in nature to those the ABC is currently investigating, were put to Ms Mercer-Moore for a response prior to her resigning from her position with SCS. An internal investigation dealt with the matter as a Code of Conduct issue in relation to material omissions relating to a declared conflict of interest. Following her resignation, a decision was made not to pursue the matter."
According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Mercer-Moore spent the following nine months working for one of the companies she co-owns with her husband.
Six months ago, however, she picked up a new job as the Chief Property Officer for RSL Lifecare, another charitable organisation which runs retirement villages and aged care homes across the country.
RSL Lifecare also receives significant taxpayer funding – more than $166 million last financial year.
Presently, Ms Mercer-Moore is working for the organisation on property projects with a combined budget of more than $100 million.
RSL Lifecare told the ABC it had not done any work with Fusion Global Resources.
