By Jessica Wang
A former Home Affairs official has been found to have acted in a seriously corrupt manner after she helped her sister鈥檚 fiance secure a $101,000 job.
The investigation report, which was released by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on Monday, revealed a tranche of WhatsApp messages and texts shared by the high-level beurocrat, who was given the pseudonym Joanne Simeson, and her sister, Melissa.
The events, which occurred from 2022 to 2024, were in relation to an international engagement officer position, which Melissa鈥檚 fiance Mark Elbert was hired with a salary of $101,264.
In one message dating back to December 2022, after Mr Elbert secured an interview, Joanne said she would 鈥渢alk [Mark] through the lie (that they did not have a close personal relationship),鈥 to which Melissa wrote back: 鈥渉e鈥檚 so bad at lying he鈥檚 too honest鈥.
Investigations also revealed Joanne forged a witness signature on an onboarding form, and used her seniority and 鈥減romoted his candidacy and qualities to other staff, created the recruitment requisition, nominated herself as the delegate approver, and took steps to have the onboarding鈥.
While Joanne claimed she initially hid her relationship with Mr Elbert because she 鈥渄id not want the relationship to be known at work鈥, the NACC said she purposely 鈥渦sed her position to procure the transfer of her sister鈥檚 fiance into the Department for the purpose of benefiting her sister鈥檚 fiance and her sister, knowing it to be improper鈥.
In another instance, Joanne also misused official information by providing interview questions to her sister, who was applying for a job at another branch at the Department of Home Affairs.
The NACC found Joanne鈥檚 actions were an 鈥渁buse of her office as a public official,鈥 while repeatedly lying about her relationship with Mr Elberty and her sister, plus the 鈥渂enefit conferred on鈥 Mr Elbert mounted to serious corruption.
While Joanne was stood down during the investigation in February 2024, and resigned from the department in June 2024, the NACC said it would have recommended her employment be terminated if she still worked at the department.
The investigation also prompted the NACC to warn that 鈥渘epotism, cronyism and undeclared conflicts of interest in recruitment and promotion is an area of widespread concern,鈥 stating that it 鈥渦ndermines the merit selection process and erodes morale鈥.
It also noted that nepotism and cronyism (giving favouritism to friends and business associates) was 鈥渟ystemic鈥 and was one of the 鈥渕ost commonly observed types of corrupt conduct,鈥 according to the NACC鈥檚 2024 Commonwealth Integrity Survey.
Concluding the report, the commission made three recommendations to restrict access to interview questions to only those with a 鈥渓egitimate need to know,鈥 and to call on people involved in recruitment to declare any relationship or association with an applicant and target training to people in senior leadership roles.
It also made specific recommendations to review and change hiring processes related to the Home Affairs Department, especially in relation to department transfers which a facilitated by the head of an agency.