Weekly update: referrals, assessment and investigations

Referral and assessment

At the end of the reporting period, the Commission had:

• received 2444 referrals
• excluded 1929 referrals at the triage stage because they did not involve a Commonwealth public official or did not raise a corruption issue
• 121 referrals awaiting triage
• 237 triaged referrals under assessment including 11 under preliminary investigation
• assessed 185 referrals, in respect of which the Commission:
  • decided to take no further action in 170 cases. Typically, this is because the referral does not raise a corruption issue, or there are insufficient prospects of finding corrupt conduct, or the matter is already being adequately investigated by another agency, or a corruption investigation would not add value in the public interest.
  • referred 3 corruption issues to agencies for investigation or consideration.
  • decided to investigate 7 corruption issues itself.
  • decided to investigate 4 corruption issues jointly with another agency.

Assessment is the process by which the Commission considers whether a referral is in its jurisdiction and raises a corruption issue (which we call triaging) and, if so, whether and how to investigate the issue.

In a preliminary investigation, the Commission can use some of its investigatory powers such as compelling the provision of information or documents, to help it determine whether there is a corruption issue that should be further investigated.

Sometimes multiple referrals raise the same corruption issue. This is why there may be a difference between the itemised figures above and the total number of referrals.

The Commission’s assessment policy is available on its website at How the NACC assesses corruption issues.

Investigations

The Commission is currently conducting:

• 11 corruption investigations, including 4 joint investigations.
• 7 investigations inherited from the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI).

The Commission is overseeing 1 investigation it has referred to another agency. It is also monitoring 30 investigations that ACLEI previously referred to other agencies.

The Commission does not comment on ongoing investigations, as to do so may compromise operational activities or unfairly impact reputations.

Report corruption

The Commission appreciates the ongoing interest and referrals. We will continue to reach out to individual referrers where we need additional information, or to let them know if we have decided not to proceed further.

If you wish to report a corruption issue in the Commonwealth public sector, visit nacc.gov.au or call 1300 489 844.