A Harley Davidson motorcycle, hundreds of dollars in personal journey for relations, and a Foxtel subscription to his house are amongst a raft of private purchases the previous head of a Sydney council claimed he was entitled to make utilizing council funds, a corruption inquiry has heard.
Botany Bay Council’s former basic supervisor Peter Fitzgerald fronted the Unbiased Fee towards Corruption on Wednesday, the place he was grilled over the alleged theft of greater than $four.2 million of council funds by staff between 2009 and 2015.
Throughout three hours of intense interrogation, Mr Fitzgerald was requested to elucidate hundreds of dollars of private bills he allegedly charged to his three company bank cards, together with his buy of a Harley Davidson motorcycle and airfares for his youngsters.
He repeatedly denied abusing his bank cards, telling the fee that any private gadgets he bought have been permitted inside the phrases of his contract, which he stated entitled him to annual “discretionary expenditure” of $20,000.
“I would not use my card until I believed I had an entitlement,” he stated.
The discretionary $20,000 got here with no circumstances aside from the requirement the purchases weren’t for unlawful actions, and allowed him “to do as I noticed match once in a while, and I did,” he stated.
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The declare prompted an incredulous response from Botany Council’s lawyer, Arthur Moses, SC.
“However you are not suggesting to the Commissioner that you simply thought as an example, you would use your bank card to purchase a Harley Davidson for your self?” Mr Moses requested.
“Sure, I’m,” Mr Fitzgerald responded.
Nevertheless, the previous council chief was stumped when requested to elucidate why the one reference in his contract to a $20,000 entitlement associated to a “Loyalty Retention Allowance” which seemed to be “for journey and research to assist examine our metropolis to others”.
Whereas Mr Fitzgerald was dipping into “discretionary” council funds for private gadgets he was additionally receiving annual cheques for $20,000 from the council for travelling bills, Mr Moses informed the inquiry.
However Mr Fitzgerald appeared baffled by the proof, claiming he did not know what the cheques have been for, and conceded that whereas he stored no report of his private purchases he might have exceeded his discretionary restrict.
Among the many string of private bills he paid for utilizing “discretionary” council funds have been $four,000 of repairs and alterations to a ship, $9,000 spent at Bridge Mowers and Chainsaws Centre in Gosford, and quite a few flights for his youngsters.
The inquiry heard Mr Fitzgerald allegedly spent round $200,000 on journey between 2004 and 2011, together with $70,000 at Viatour Journey company, a few of which was within the identify of his spouse and youngsters. Whereas the journey was not council-associated “it will have been an entitlement underneath my contract”, he stated.
He was additionally quizzed over purchases made at 27 separate enterprise on the Central Coast, the place he owned a property on the time, together with present outlets, airconditioning companies and furnishings and homeware shops.
When requested by ICAC Commissioner Megan Latham whether or not any of the purchases associated to his personal property, he stated “they could be” however he would wish to undergo every expense intimately.
Mr Fitzgerald additionally justified a $5,000 Foxtel subscription to his house, which included $1,000 for Fox Sport Reside Streaming, on a clause in his contract which entitled him to 24-hour telephone and web entry, which could possibly be used for personal makes use of.
He initially claimed Foxtel was merely a part of an web package deal offered to him by Telstra, however when pressed to elucidate the expense he claimed cable tv was necessary for his position as common supervisor.
“You are on the job on a regular basis and it’s a must to know what is going on on on the earth. You need to know what is going on on on this metropolis,” he stated.
Although greater than $three million was charged to Mr Fitzgerald’s three company bank cards between Might 2000 and July 2012, he admitted he didn’t see a single bank card assertion till shortly earlier than he retired from the council in September 2011.
On that sole event, he stated he met with together with his deputy supervisor Lorraine Cullinane to reconcile the bank card accounts, however he conceded it was “not in depth” they usually solely reviewed way back to the three most up-to-date statements.
As an alternative, he stated he relied on the council’s accounts division to deal with his bank card statements and he was by no means approached by them to elucidate any of the bills.
Mr Fitzgerald’s testimony comes a day after the council’s former chief monetary officer Gary Goodman – who’s accused of racking up greater than $seven hundred,000 of private bills on Mr Fitzgerald’s company playing cards – informed the fee Mr Fitzgerald expressly authorised the rorting, allegedly telling him, “I do not care what you do, simply cowl it up”.
However Mr Fitzgerald stated the dialog “by no means occurred” and he by no means authorised using his playing cards for private use by council staff.
He additionally denied instructing Mr Goodman to attract up common money cheques of $4200 for consulting agency MB Consulting, who did no recognized work for the council, and handing him bundles of clean invoices to justify the funds.
The inquiry has now concluded and a report with the ICAC’s findings will be ready for Parliament.