A Finance Department worker and consultant have been found guilty of conspiring as part of a group with the intention to defraud the department by corrupting its IT procurement processes.
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Department worker Abdul "Alex" Aziz El-Debel and IT consultant Raminder Singh Kahlon pleaded not guilty to conspiring with each other and Gopalakrishnan Suryanarayanan Vilayur with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain from the Commonwealth between March 2019 and June 2020.
The alleged conspiracy was to influence or corrupt the department's procurement processes relating to contractual projects to favour candidates at Kahlon's and Vilayur's businesses, being New Horizons Business Solutions and Algoram, respectively.
As part of the agreement, the trio then allegedly shared in a portion of the profit margins the businesses received.
Vilayur, 52, was not part of the ACT Supreme Court trial with El-Debel, 49, and Kahlon, 36, that began on June 6.
The jury found the men guilty on Thursday after beginning deliberations on Tuesday. The men did not react to the verdicts.
Commonwealth prosecutor David Staehli SC argued that the department ultimately recruiting personnel from New Horizons and Algoram meant "large sums" of money flowing to the companies.
Mr Staehli alleged that some of the money was then transferred overseas out of which "could be remitted - find its way back from overseas and find its way into the hands of either Mr El-Debel or Mr Vilayur".
"It was the environment of the department ... there appears to be somewhat of a hothouse in relation to the amount of work that was on hand," Mr Staehli said.
"There's no proof of there being actual money, in the prosecution case, and the absence of that may be perhaps regarded as a definitive answer to the proposition.
"But this is a case based on a series of unfortunate events, some of them peculiar, and it's the combination of all the material that we rely on."
He argued the Algoram name was significant because it combined the first syllables of each of the three men's first names - being Alex in El-Debel's case - that went towards establishing the conspiracy.
Defence lawyers questioned whether such an agreement among the trio existed and attacked the allegation that proceeds were paid or would be paid.
Catherine Newman, barrister for El-Debel, in her closing address summarised the case with 21 key points, including phone intercepts showing discussions about business ideas and building an app, rather than a conspiracy.
She said evidence also showed the trio wanted the most qualified and skill candidates to help meet deadlines and alleviate pressure on the department's staff.
Ms Newman also took aim at the investigation. During her cross examination of federal agent Stephen Gibson, the lead investigator of the case, he conceded that only 60 of the more than 60,000 communication intercepts involving El-Debel were included in the brief of evidence to the prosecution.
"Mr Gibson also conceded he could not be sure that all relevant calls, including those that might've assisted Alex in his defence, was ever disclosed to us," she said.
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Among her other major points was El-Debel's conflict-of-interest declarations about his relationships with Vilayur and Kahlon related to two procurements.
She said that even if the jury found that some of the procurement processes were influenced or corrupted, the Crown conceded that "the only thing that makes this criminal is the agreement between the three men" and that El-Debel would be paid as a result of his role in the influencing.
"You've heard the Crown admit they can't prove a single dollar was ever paid to Alex," Ms Newman said.
Matthew Kalyk, for Kahlon, argued that the disconnect between the alleged process corruption and the proceeds obtained was an "extreme issue" that would be troubling for jurors.
He said Kahlon's international money transfers, including amounts up to $250,000, that the prosecution alleged were a "pool of funds" associated with the conspiracy "have nothing to do with any of these matters" due to the timings.
The defence lawyer took the jury through a chronology of those remittances and said the majority was in 2018-19 before they stopped in February 2020.
He said evidence showed the men had genuine concerns about resources at the department, rather than it being a conspiracy, and if there were an agreement, it was not one to dishonestly obtain from the Commonwealth.
In summarising his arguments, he said there were at least eight critical points, including Kahlon having no intention to receiving money to which he was not lawfully entitled.
"When you look at all of the evidence in the Crown case, the evidence is so lacking in so many critical areas in respect so many critical witnesses that that in itself would give rise to a reasonable doubt," he said.
The trial heard the contracts awarded to the businesses represented only a small portion of about $25m worth of IT contracts at the department at the time.
Evidence in the trial included about 24 hours of phone recordings, public service workers' testimonies and financial documents.
To find the men guilty, the jury needed to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the trio agreed that pursuant to that agreement, a portion of the share of the profit margins received by New Horizons and Algoram would be paid to Mr El-Debel.
Their lawyers declined to comment following the outcome. The men remain on bail and the case returns in late July for a procedural hearing.
AS IT HAPPENED
- Public servants accused of corrupting process for 'hothouse of gains'
- Alleged conspiracy against govt 'clearly in dispute'
- 'Don't create a nightmare': Calls played in govt conspiracy trial
- 'I don't see anything wrong': Workers testify in govt conspiracy trial
- 'Contrary to what you've been telling me': Govt conspiracy accused probed
- Evidence helpful to accused govt co-conspirator likely undisclosed
- 'Wordle writ large': Firm name shows conspiracy to defraud govt, prosecutor says
- 'Extreme issue' in alleged conspiracy against govt troubling: lawyer
- Crown 'clutching at straws' as government conspiracy trial nears end
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