By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey Council staff had raised suspicions over ex-councillor Geoff Ablett’s “close” relationship with developer John Woodman, an IBAC inquiry has heard.
Despite the concerns, Casey CEO Glenn Patterson told IBAC he had “not formed a clear view of impropriety” by late November 2018.
By that stage, two months into his job at Casey, Mr Patterson was seeking information on the organisation.
He had been aware of allegations about Mr Ablett and Mr Woodman in The Age.
There was also a 2015 State Omudsman’s review into corruption claims involving Casey councillors including Mr Ablett, who could not be compelled to give evidence.
Mr Patterson had also heard several council officers’ concerns at Mr Ablett and Mr Woodman’s close relationship, as well as councillors’ favouritism towards Mr Woodman’s projects.
An officer said that Mr Woodman and his planning consultant Megan Schutz seemed to have “the ear” of Cr Ablett, according to Mr Patterson’s own notes.
Cr Ablett had also been personally pressing Mr Patterson to meet with Mr Woodman – which occurred on 7 January 2019.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich asked Mr Patterson whether all of that was “sufficient” for the CEO to act on Mr Ablett.
“No,” Mr Patterson said.
“I think some of those comments in there don’t necessarily constitute impropriety or improper conduct.
“It is simply saying they are close.”
Senior lawyer at IBAC Amber Harris asked why Mr Patterson didn’t raise The Age allegations with Mr Ablett.
“I wouldn’t have had confidence that I would probably get the full story from that, and again I didn’t have anything that would be a catalyst to me doing that, that was actually, you know, suspected corrupt conduct.”
Mr Patterson told IBAC that he hadn’t known of then councillors Ablett and Sam Aziz’s alleged failure to declare payments from Mr Woodman until the hearings started in October 2019.
By that time, Cr Aziz was out of the country and Cr Ablett was on extended leave.
“So at the time when those omissions were first aired neither of those councillors were in active service and contactable.”
He told Star News that there was a gap between a “hunch that something might be amiss” and the “significant” threshold for reporting alleged impropriety to IBAC, the State Ombudsman or the Local Government Inspectorate.
“They are all talking about allegations and reported relationships,” Mr Patterson said.
“What still wasn’t evident was sufficient evidence to make an official notification.”
The Casey CEO and staff’s powers were insufficient, as were the State Ombudsman in 2015, to uncover the alleged corruption, Mr Patterson said.
“It took the incredibly coercive powers of IBAC to get to the truth.”
