Suspicions are growing about whether the Tasmanian government struck a deal to give a disgraced TAFE boss a golden handshake in order to go quietly.
Stephen Conway resigned as TasTAFE chief executive in May after damning Integrity Commission allegations of serious misconduct and nepotism.
The report found Mr Conway increased the salary of his deputy, Lori Hocking, without the approval of the head of the state service, created a position for her and allowed her to claim personal benefits using state funds.
The allegations were not investigated and it's been revealed Mr Conway received a $188,000 payout.
The Opposition and the Greens said the expenses scandal was a clear breach of the State Service Act and the Government should not have accepted his resignation.
They said if the resignation had not been accepted, Mr Conway could have been stood down, investigated over the allegations and taxpayers spared the payout.
Calls for transparency
University of Tasmania Associate Professor Kate Crowley said the Government should be transparent about Mr Conway's departure.
"It's probably likely that there has been some arrangement struck with Mr Conway, over this resolution and whether this is out of order, or for political gain, again you need transparency over the arrangement," she said.
Associate Professor Crowley said it was unclear if the Government properly handled the incident.
"You really just have to fess up for how you spend public funds," she said.
Australian Education Union TAFE president Damian Von Samorzewski said the payout sent a clear message to Tasmanians.
"And that is, if you do anything wrong in the Tasmanian Government department, that you will get actually a golden handshake, you won't be prosecuted," he said.
Mr Von Samorzewski said he believed the Government's handling of the incident was to minimise damage to the TasTAFE brand.
"[It was] to get it out of the media before the state election," he said.
"It really sends a poor message that Tasmania is a corrupt state to do business in," he said.
The State Government said it did not strike a deal with Mr Conway to resign.
It's blamed Labor for hiring Mr Conway, and said it could not investigate him because he had resigned.
