Operational activity
As at 18 September 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (the Commission):
- is conducting 32 preliminary investigations
- is conducting 28 corruption investigations, including 7 joint investigations
- is overseeing or monitoring 18 investigations by other agencies. In the last week, one additional matter was referred to an agency for investigation with oversight.
- has 6 matters before the court
- has 480 referrals pending assessment.
Over the period from 1 July 2024 to midnight Sunday 15 September 2024, the Commission:
- received 513 referrals
- excluded 410 referrals at triage stage
- closed one joint investigation following the decision to take no further action, when it was determined that corrupt conduct would not be found.
Read about how the Commission assesses corruption issues and the investigation process.
Hearings
Private hearings are routinely used in the Commission’s investigation process and have been conducted throughout the 14 months since commencement.
To date, the Commission conducted private hearings in 5 investigations, involving 24 witnesses over 18 days.
The Commission has not yet conducted any public hearings. The legislation that governs the Commission requires that ordinarily its proceedings be conducted in private. This is chiefly to avoid the risk of unfair and premature damage to reputations that can be caused when unproven allegations of corruption are publicised. In accordance with the legislation, the Commission will conduct public hearings where the circumstances and the public interest justify an exception to the general rule that they be held in private. “Exceptional circumstances” will emerge on a case-by-case basis and will not be prescribed in advance. They have not arisen yet. Commission hearings are a means of gathering evidence and information; not a show trial from which many of the protections of a criminal trial are absent. Moreover, many witnesses are more comfortable – and give more helpful evidence – in private than in public.
More information on the Commission’s investigations and operational activity in its first year will be made available in its forthcoming 2023-24 Annual Report.