One of the federal public servants who allegedly conspired to defraud the Commonwealth will deny the claims, while the intentions of his co-accused remain unclear.
Abdul Aziz El-Debel, 47, was arrested in June along with Gopalakrishnan Suryanarayanan Vilayur, 50, and Raminder Singh Kahlon, 36.
The arrests across Canberra followed an 11-month police investigation, which began with a tip from the Department of Finance.
Police allege that between June 2018 and June 2020, the trio profited from an illicit scheme to defraud the department by directing government IT contracts through preferred suppliers.
The precise methods of the alleged offending have not yet been detailed in court, nor has a dollar figure been placed on its total value.
In the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday, lawyers for Mr El-Debel said the Griffith man would plead not guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth and abuse of public office.
Mr El-Debel is more commonly known as Alex, and has previously been described online as the chief architect and delivery lead for the Service Delivery Office at the Department of Finance.
Mr Vilayur, a Palmerston man previously listed as a Department of Finance program director, faces the same charges. He has not entered pleas, and his lawyers expressed concern on Thursday that the charges could change because police had not finished their investigation.
Mr Kahlon, who is charged only with the conspiracy offence, is also yet to plead. The Barton man, whose role in the public service is not known, had a minor bail variation approved in court on Thursday.
All three men are on strict bail, with conditions including that they must not contact each other, go to the Department of Finance office or access departmental computer systems.
The Canberra Times revealed last week that authorities targeting criminal wealth have frozen about $7.8 million in assets linked to the trio.
The assets restrained by the Confiscation of Criminal Assets Taskforce include seven homes understood to be worth a combined $5.6 million, and an unknown number of cars and bank accounts.
Police claim that some of the proceeds of the trio's alleged fraud were used to buy and renovate residential properties in Canberra.
The cases of all three accused men are due back in court on October 1, by which time their lawyers will have received the full brief of evidence from prosecutors.
