A FORMER RailCorp employee who was able to go overseas on numerous scuba-diving holidays thanks to his underhand takings is expected to face criminal charges after an extensive investigation by the corruption watchdog.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider charges against a wider circle of former RailCorp employees and contractors after hearings earlier this year into corruption and fraud at the organisation.
The nine-week hearings into RailCorp found as much as $19 million in "work improperly allocated to contractors" had been identified, and a further $3 million in kickbacks paid to staff.
Yesterday, the commission released a further two reports into corruption and fraud at RailCorp, bringing to four the number of reports released, and said it was seeking advice from the DPP as to whether a further 10 people - former RailCorp staff and contractors - can be prosecuted.
The commission found that a former RailCorp employee, Allan Walker, along with others, received more than $500,000 in connection with his role in falsifying plant-hire dockets.
It said it would seek advice from the DPP with regards to the possible prosecution of Mr Walker, as well as the contractors Adam Azzopardi, William Kuipers, Michael Napier, Matthew Napier and Eric Krecichwost.
The commission also found that a former employee, Ivan Stanic, received up to $140,000 in corrupt payments between 2001 and mid-2006 from three contracting businesses that received RailCorp work worth more than $2.9 million.
Mr Stanic supervised projects in RailCorp's south region, receiving enough payments to pay for diving trips. He was awarded the "most travelled diver" by a scuba-diving business for four straight years.
"At the same time, he was accepting corrupt payments, improperly awarding maintenance work and inflating invoices for work that was not even done," the ICAC commissioner, Jerrold Cripps, QC, found.
The commission said it would seek advice regarding the possible prosecution of Mr Stanic and also the contractors involved in his activities.
With these additional reports, the commission is seeking advice from the DPP on legal action against 16 people, making it the most extensive of its inquiries.
None of the four reports on RailCorp has included recommendations about how to avoid corruption. This is expected to be the topic of a report to be released towards the end of the year, once the remaining reports into corruption and fraud at the government agency have been released.
"The RailCorp investigation has raised a significant number of corruption issues across all segments of the investigation," the commission said in a statement yesterday. "The same corruption issues have arisen in several previous ICAC investigations into RailCorp."
At a recent parliamentary hearing, Mr Cripps said he had previously made recommendation after recommendation about the corruption, with little effect. He specifically requested the minister for transport to act.
The new minister, David Campbell, said yesterday he intended to clarify what steps RailCorp had taken to stem the corruption uncovered within it. "Last night, when I got the call from the Premier confirming my appointment, I wrote a list of issues to be addressed, and ICAC was on that list."
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