The ACT's Auditor-General was unable to rule out potentially criminal activity involved in the government's controversial Dickson land swap with the Tradies Club.
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Auditor-General Dr Maxine Cooper gave evidence at a Legislative Assembly Estimates hearing on Friday, indicating a lack of government documentation of the 2014 land swap deal meant she was unable to rule out "criminality".
The audit office earlier this year found the government gave significant concessions to the CFMEU-linked Tradies Club worth up to $2.65 million as part of the deal that involved selling a government-owned carpark via a tender to the club.
As part of the deal reached in December 2014, the club sold two of its properties at Section 72, Dickson, to the government, one of which currently houses the union's headquarters, a lease that is currently being renegotiated.
The public accounts committee previously heard the deal involved as many as 40 meetings between government officials and the club over two years, and claims have been made to the audit office that documents detailing the talks had gone missing.
Opposition Leader Alistair Coe this morning asked Dr Cooper if during the audit she was able to rule out criminal involvement.
Dr Cooper said that the audit office "can’t rule it in or rule it out", but that in any audit, if the audit office uncovered evidence "going somewhere near criminality", the office would refer the matter to the police.
She said that in a normal audit the office would go in and get records to investigate the issue, but that during that audit there had been a "complete lack of those records".
Earlier in the hearing, committee chairman Andrew Wall asked how the audit office would normally determine the veracity of allegations of a missing box of documents.
Dr Cooper said while she had heard the allegation, she was still not aware if the box of documents actually existed or not, but if the information was pertinent to an audit, the question would be why wasn't it put in the formal records at the time.
She said one would expect all government agencies to comply with the Territory Records Act, which determines the length of time the governemnt must retain different official records.
Dr Cooper said the office did an exhaustive search for the claimed missing documents but was unable to obtain any such evidence.
She said the decision to publish the audit report anyway came down to the audit office's scope, its limited resources and the fact the office was part of a "bigger system" that might be able to flesh out the issues highlighted.
Outside of the hearings, Mr Coe said the hearing showed the need for the proposed ACT anti-corruption commission was on "full display" during the hearings, and the fact that criminality could not be ruled out meant "a deep investigation is still required".
“Given more than $2 million worth of value has been lost, there’s perhaps a missing box of evidence, and there are dozens of undocumented meetings and calls, this should be of real concern to all Canberrans," he said.
A public accounts committee inquiry, separate to the Estimates committee hearings on Friday, continues to examine the issues raised in the audit.
