Three people, including a former Education Department deputy secretary and an ASX-listed company chief executive, have been charged over their involvement in a botched school IT project, which cost taxpayers up to $240 million.
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After a lengthy investigation, the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission has charged former department deputy secretary Darrell Fraser with five counts of obtaining property by deception and one count of misconduct in public office.
IBAC also charged Denis Mackenzie and Julie-Ann Kerin, the former and current chief executives of CSG, the company awarded the Ultranet project. They have each been hit with five counts of obtaining property by deception.
The Ultranet project promised to deliver an online platform that connected Victorian teachers, parents and students but was plagued by technical issues and rarely used after its rollout by the former state Labor government in 2010.
It was scrapped in 2014, wasting between $127 million and $240 million of taxpayers' money, according to a statement released by the commission on Monday.
IBAC's Operation Dunham investigated the corrupt tender process for the IT project, and concluded in a 2017 report that department officials bought shares in CSG, influenced the tender process and accepted inappropriate gifts from suppliers, including flights and expensive meals.
Education Minister James Merlino said the investigation exposed appalling behaviour and Victorian's deserved better.
“I am glad to see the matter will now progress to the courts and I expect justice will be served.”
An Education Department spokesman said sweeping reforms had been rolled out to prevent the corrupt behaviour uncovered by IBAC from ever happening again. This includes the establishment of an integirty and assurance division.
“As charges have been laid and this matter is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate to provide comment," he said.
In a statement to the ASX on Monday, CSG denied that it had acted inappropriately.
"After reviewing the IBAC report, CSG denied that it and its officers have done anything wrong," it said.
It said the charges related to a consulting project, titled the Learning Technologies and Quality Assurance Project.
According to CSG, the charges allege that the Education Department was deceived about the "true nature and purpose" of the project, and into believing that Alliance Recruitment would complete all the work on that project.
IBAC's report found that Mr Fraser, the former principal of Glen Waverley College who spearheaded the IT project, used $1 million of department money to "corruptly inject funds into CSG to ensure it had sufficient cash flow to properly deliver the Ultranet project".
It also found that he tried to influence the evaluation of the tender by "stacking" an assessment with like-minded colleagues and spent thousand of dollars of taxpayers' money on lavish dinners and alcohol.
In 2011, Mr Fraser resigned as deputy secretary and took up a senior job with CSG.
The investigation followed revelations by Fairfax Media in 2014 that four senior education department officials bought shares or took jobs with CSG. Only one of these officials, Mr Fraser, has been charged in relation to Operation Dunham.
A separate investigation by IBAC titled Operation Ord revealed that senior Education Department officers misappropriated taxpayer funds through false and inflated invoices.
As a result of that investigation, disgraced former Education Department big wig Nino Napoli was among six people charged over their alleged involvement in a corrupt ring that swindled more than $6 million from Victorian state schools.
