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CANBERRA - Sex and corruption in one of New South Wales' largest cities has been confirmed by an investigation that will add to the problems of a state Labor government facing what may become a terminal nosedive.
Although the allegations emerging from a long and sleazy inquiry into
relations between developers and city councillors and planning officials are not new, the prospect of major criminal charges will hang over Labor as it struggles to regain lost ground.
The departure of former Premier Morris Iemma and a number of key ministers will not diminish the political ammunition piling up against successor Nathan Rees, despite pledges to overhaul safeguards against corruption in the wake of the scandal at Wollongong Council.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), in its final report handed to the state Parliament yesterday, found corruption on an unprecedented scale in the booming coastal city south of Sydney.
While not implicated in the scandal, some senior state Labor figures have been otherwise associated with officials among the 11 people the ICAC has recommended be charged with 139 criminal offences.
Allegations had also been made during the inquiry against one Labor MP, Noreen Hay, relating to her relations with a number of allegedly corrupt developers and officials, but were not substantiated.
"As regrettable and as tawdry as (the Wollongong scandal) was, today's release of that report by the ICAC demonstrates that we are a corruption-resistant state, and where it does exist it gets rooted out," Rees said.
The entire Wollongong Council was sacked after the ICAC released its initial report in March, and approval for a major, A$100 million ($112 million) development was later suspended in the wake of allegations against developer Frank Vellar.
Vellar is among those the ICAC recommends be charged, along with former lover and town planner Beth Morgan, who may face as many as 27 charges.
Others found to have acted corruptly include developer Glen Tabak, former council general manager Rod Oxley, senior manager John Gilbert, and former councillors Val Zanotto, Frank Gigliotti, Kiril Jonovski and Zeki Esen.
The ICAC also named Joe Scimone, a former council official and senior state bureaucrat and friend of Ports Minister Joe Tripodi.
Tripodi was not implicated in any way, but with links between others of the accused and senior Labor figures, the new Rees Government will be working hard to distance itself from former administrations.
Morgan, a 32-year-old divorcee and mother of one, has become the focus of the scandal through her relations with developers allegedly corruptly involved with senior council officials.
The group met regularly for coffee at a beachside kebab restaurant.
Morgan admitted that she had been a lover to Vellar and Tabak, accepting money and gifts from them and travelling to China with Vellar at a time when applications for major developments were before the council.
The inquiry heard that the relationship between Morgan and Vellar was known to Oxley, who is alleged to have ensured that Oxley oversaw the developer's A$100 million proposal, and to have himself accepted gifts from Vellar.
The ICAC found that Morgan abused her position to provide favours to developers with whom she was intimately involved by approving applications for excessive developments, providing monetary concessions and leaking council information.
Vellar is also alleged to have been given confidential zoning information by Zanotto, who also voted in favour of his development proposals while concealing the friendship and financial relationship between them.
The ICAC further said Jonovski, Esen and Gigliotti corruptly solicited a A$20,000 donation from Vellar in return for their voting support.
Its report also said that Oxley had contributed to the corruption through his "pro-development enthusiasm" and his actions in dismantling, undermining and ignoring internal anti-corruption firewalls.
"(This) created a straightforward opportunity for corrupt developers to influence the development application process from start to finish," the report said.
