An independent investigation has cleared the Australian Olympic Committee’s long-time media director, Mike Tancred, of four bullying complaints.
But Tancred, a close ally of the AOC president, John Coates, remains stood down from the organisation, and his future now rests with the new chief executive, Matt Carroll.
Complaints about Tancred began to emerge during the bitter AOC election campaign between Coates and the Australian Sports Commission’s Danni Roche this year.
Tancred stood down from his position in April, after the former AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong made a complaint that he had bullied and intimidated her in December.
That complaint was dealt with in June, but an investigation has since been considering another four bullying complaints against Tancred.
Late on Friday, the AOC issued a statement saying Tancred had been cleared of the four complaints. “The Independent Committee has found that none of the complaints has been made out on an objective basis,” the statement read.
The AOC was unable to say when a decision might be made about Tancred’s future with the organisation.
The investigation was led by the former high court justice Ian Callinan and the former NSW district court judge Greg James.
The four complainants – three former staff and one member of the public – were forced to sign confidentiality undertakings.
The AOC said it wanted to prevent the cases being “determined by and in the media”.
Tancred stepped down from his role with the AOC pending the complaints in April. The earlier investigation of De Jong’s complaint cleared him of bullying, but found he had engaged in disreputable conduct.
The complaint related to a phone call between the pair in December, in which Tancred threatened to damage De Jong and her reputation.
In June, after the De Jong investigation concluded, Tancred issued a public statement apologising for his “hurtful” and “inappropriate” conduct.
“In December last year, I rang Fiona de Jong about an internal matter at the AOC,” Tancred said. “During the course of our conversation, I spoke to Ms de Jong in an intimidating manner, and made threats to damage her and her reputation by publishing allegations about her.”
Tancred had strongly backed Coates during the six-week election campaign for the AOC presidency. The complaint against Tancred was considered a significant setback for Coates’s campaign.
Roche was running on a platform of change, pledging to solve systemic cultural problems within the AOC. Coates was ultimately successful in the vote in early May.
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