Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
The NACC has received thousands of referrals, kicking off more than a dozen preliminary inquiries.
Commissioner Paul Brereton said they’re just getting started.
“I didn’t believe we were beginning in an environment that was devoid of integrity … I still hold to those views, but am chastened by the fact that concurrently with the advent of the commission, we saw a number of significant integrity issues.
An Australian Tax Office official who was paid bribes to reduce millions of dollars in tax assessments became the first scalp of the newly formed National Anti-Corruption Commission when he was sentenced to 30 months prison on Tuesday.
Wenfeng Wei, 42, a former ATO auditor, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and using his position to reduce personal and business tax debts by millions of dollars over six years.
Wei was sentenced to five years with a non-parole period of two years six months in Parramatta District Court on Tuesday.
Wei had pleaded guilty to three charges of improperly accessing and modifying ATO files, one charge of receiving a bribe, and one of abusing public office to gain advantage.
He was charged in July 2022 after a combined investigation, Operation Barker, led by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity in partnership with the ATO and other regulators.
The NACC took responsibility for the investigation when it began operations in July.
Two other men who were charged at the same time as Wei remain before the courts.
Businessman Raymond Shlemon has pleaded guilty to bribing and to giving a corrupt benefit to a Commonwealth official. He is listed for sentencing on April 24.
A third man, John Zeitoune, has pleaded not guilty to aiding or procuring a bribe for a Commonwealth official.
Mr Zeitoune founded a security group, now called Stronghold Facility Services Pty Ltd, which trades as Asset Group Solutions.
After he was charged in July 2022 the company changed its name and Mr Zeitoune transferred his shares to a family company believed to be controlled by his children.
The ABC revealed the bribery charges last July, reporting that Wei had received $150,000 to reduce a $6 million tax assessment.
Asset Group Solutions provided on-campus security for the Australian Catholic University and property it owns including a building rented to the NSW Police Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command.
In a statement, the NACC said it was conducting 13 corruption investigations, including four joint investigations with other agencies, after receiving 2637 referrals since July.
It was still assessing 403 referrals including 13 cases under preliminary investigation.
Investigators had excluded 2022 referrals because they did not involve a Commonwealth public official or did not raise a corruption issue.
It took no further action in 217 cases because there were insufficient prospects of finding corrupt conduct, an investigation was not in the public interest, or it was already being investigated by another agency.
The NACC had referred six corruption cases to other agencies, was investigating 11 matters itself and was working with another agency in four cases.
It was overseeing or monitoring 25 investigations by other agencies.
Neil Chenoweth is an investigative reporter for The Australian Financial Review. He is based in Sydney and has won multiple Walkley Awards. Connect with Neil on Twitter.Email Neil at nchenoweth@afr.com.au
In short: An ATO worker has been sentenced for taking bribes in exchange for reducing tax debts.
The sentencing is first made public by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, though the case began before its commencement.
What's next? The NACC says it has 13 corruption investigations currently running, and is monitoring several others.
A former Australian Taxation Office (ATO) employee has been sentenced to five years jail for corrupt conduct, including accepting bribes in exchange for reducing the tax debts of individuals and businesses.
ATO worker Wenfeng Wei was found to have helped to reduce millions of dollars of personal and business tax debt over a span of six years, which only ended upon his arrest.
The sentencing was first made public under the new National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), although the case was started by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, which was subsumed into the NACC when it began in July last year.
In a statement, the commission said Wei made a guilty plea in July 2023 and was convicted in the Parramatta District Court on Tuesday of several contraventions of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, including accepting a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of public office and unauthorised access and disclosure of restricted data.
He was sentenced to five years in prison with a non-parole period of two years.
13 corruption investigations ongoing
Since its commencement last year, the NACC has received 2,594 referrals for investigation.
As of the start of this month the NACC was conducting 13 corruption investigations, as well as overseeing a number of others by separate agencies.
At its commencement commissioner Paul Brereton said launching an investigation did not imply there was necessarily corrupt conduct.
"It may sometimes be in the public interest that we open an investigation to clear the air, and I will use the power to make public statements about corruption issues to do so."
Five preliminary investigations have been concluded without any corruption finding.
A former Australian Taxation Office employee has been sentenced to five years in jail for accepting bribes from a person he was auditing in exchange for reducing millions of dollars in personal and business tax debts.
It is the first criminal prosecution stemming from the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which was established in July last year and took responsibility for the joint investigation originally led by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity and the ATO.
Wenfeng Wei, 42, was sentenced to five years in prison with a non-parole period of two years and six months at the Parramatta District Court on Tuesday.
The former ATO employee had pleaded guilty in July 2023 to five charges, including three counts of unauthorised access or modification of restricted data, one count of a Commonwealth public official receiving a bribe and one count of official abuse of public office to gain advantage.
The NACC said it has 13 corruption investigations under way, seven of which were inherited from the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. The corruption body is also involved in 25 investigations being led by other agencies.
The commission has received 2637 referrals since it was formed, almost 76 per cent of which it has excluded as they did not raise a corruption issue or a Commonwealth public official was not involved. It has conducted 13 preliminary investigations – during which it can use its investigatory powers to compel people to provide information or documents – and has found in six of the cases, there were no corruption issues.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was contacted for comment.
In a statement, the NACC said Wei’s case stemmed from Operation Barker, which was supported by the ATO, the Australian Federal Police, NSW Police, the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
A former Australian Taxation Office employee has been sentenced to five years in jail for corrupt conduct, which includes accepting a bribe of $150,000 from a taxpayer they were auditing.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission outlined the conviction on Tuesday of the unnamed offender at the Parramatta District Court following a guilty plea last July.
The conviction stems from Operation Barker, a joint investigation led by the ATO and the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, which was subsumed into the anti-corruption commission last July.
In a statement, the anti-corruption commission said it was alleged the former employee accepted a bribe of $150,000 from a taxpayer they were auditing to reduce personal and business tax debts of over $6 million dollars.
The anti-corruption commission said the activity took place over six years and only ended after the former employee's arrest.
The offender was convicted of several breaches of the Commonwealth criminal code, including accepting a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of public office, and unauthorised access and disclosure of restricted data.
The Parramatta District Court has sentenced the offender to five years in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
At early March, the anti-corruption commission has received more than 2500 referrals, excluded 2009 referrals at the triage stage, inherited seven investigations from the ACLEI, and started 13 corruption investigations, including four joint investigations.
The anti-corruption commission said Operation Barker was supported by the Australian Federal Police, NSW Police, the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
