Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry's former chief of staff and the former head of the Education Directorate engaged in serious corrupt conduct that provided a backdoor to prioritise the interests of a major union, the ACT Integrity Commission has found after a five-year probe.
Josh Ceramidas, who worked for Ms Berry, and former Education head Katy Haire "dishonestly provided a back door by which the strategic interests of the CFMEU were given priority" in the way a contract was awarded for a primary school upgrade.
The ACT Integrity Commission released its long-awaited report from the investigation into union influence over the contract for the Campbell primary school upgrade on Thursday, almost three years on from a series of public hearings.
"Not only was the process itself improperly skewed, resulting in manifest unfairness and also, as it happened, substantially increased cost, but both Ms Haire and Mr Ceramidas undertook a calculated attempt to cover up the truth of what occurred. Accordingly, the corrupt conduct of each amounted to serious corrupt conduct," the report said.
Mr Ceramidas "acted in his own interest for the purpose of currying favour with the CFMEU", did not disclose his actions to Ms Berry and lied to the territory's corruption watchdog, a major report said.
"Whether taken singly or together, this conduct was, as Mr Ceramidas well knew, a dishonest abuse of his office as a Ministerial staffer," the report said.
The report made no adverse finding or criticism against Ms Berry.
The commission also cleared a former Education Directorate official, given the pseudonym John Green, of corruption even though he "facilitated the reprehensible conduct of Mr Ceramidas and Ms Haire".
"In my view, Mr Green should be regarded as a whistleblower. It is very much in the public interest to encourage, so far as possible, persons who are aware of wrongdoing to come forward and expose the truth. It will often be the case that they are only aware of what happened because they were themselves party to the wrongdoing," Integrity Commissioner Michael Adams KC wrote in the report.
Operation Kingfisher had been examining the handling in 2019 and 2020 of a construction contract for expansion works at Campbell Primary School, which the commission said was "undermined by inappropriate conduct at senior levels".
The project was awarded to Lendlease over Manteena despite two separate tender evaluation teams finding that Manteena had a superior design and cheaper bid. The Integrity Commission had been examining whether union or political interference played a role in the decision-making of Education Directorate officials.
The commission held public hearings almost three years ago as part of the investigation, which focused on union connections to the Education Minister's office and the selection of the preferred contractor.
The corruption watchdog's report said the commission had concluded three responsible officials undermined procurement processes and cheated construction firm Manteena to the advantage of the CFMEU and Lendllease "at a substantial cost to the territory".
"In fairness, it should be stated that this report makes no adverse comment, let alone an adverse finding against Lendlease, in respect of which there is no evidence of any wrongdoing," the report said.
Ms Haire resigned from the Education Directorate in late 2024.
An ACT public service spokesperson said Mr Ceramidas was an employee of the territory's public service. "The ACT Public Service will take appropriate steps in accordance with its employment obligations following the Integrity Commission's findings. Any further action will be determined through official processes," the spokesperson said.
