CCC probe Force funds probe eyes error in law
Nick ButterlyPerthNow
December 14, 2018 2:08AM
A corruption probe into an 11th-hour decision by the Road Safety Commission to sponsor failing rugby team the Western Force has criticised former safety boss Kim Papalia and questioned the legality of hundreds of millions of dollars in spending from traffic fines.
A Corruption and Crime Commission report released yesterday formed no opinion of serious misconduct against Mr Papalia but said he did not discharge his duties as head of a government department as he should have.
The Barnett government announced $1.5 million in sponsorship for the Western Force on the eve of the State election in March last year.
The deal was immediately criticised, with questions asked why cash from speeding fines was being used to prop up a financially distressed rugby team.
The CCC detailed how an initial request for funds from the Western Force in January last year had been rejected by a Road Safety Commission business case officer.
The officer warned that the club was at risk of folding and cautioned of the “political implications” in government partnering with an elite sporting organisation.
The recommendation was ignored and another officer reviewed the proposal in more favourable terms three days later.
Mr Papalia recommended the sponsorship be approved on January 25.
Parliament was dissolved on January 30 and the agreement was signed off by then police minister Lisa Harvey at an “unknown time” the same day.
The CCC wrote how emails from Department of Premier and Cabinet’s then deputy director-general to then Road Safety Commission director of operations Chris Adams raised concerns of political pressure to allocate the funds.
The CCC said that by Mr Papalia excluding the Road Safety Council from a series of funding allocations, his sign off on $177 million in road safety funding may have been an “error in law”.
“The commission’s investigation showed that Mr Papalia did not discharge his duties as head of a government department and chair of the Road Safety Council as he should have,” the CCC said.
The CCC was clear that it could not find any evidence that Mr Papalia or any other public officer had a corrupt motive in respect to the allocation of road trauma trust account funds.
Mr Papalia is a former senior police officer. He is brother of State Government cabinet minister Paul Papalia.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/ru...ng-b881050352z
