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Genex, NAIF and the "too" late Independent Review of the NAIF Act; (for the public record)., page-8

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howiepatr16

670 Posts.

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15/10/24

10:19

Post #: 76124266
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Originally posted by howiepatr16: ↑

NAIF’s SECRET $610 MILLION CONCESSIONAL LOAN FOR THE BENEFIT OF A FOREIGN CORPORATION.

National Anti-Corruption Commission, (NACC), Submission

The apparent failure of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, (NAIF) and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, (ASIC), to provide evidence to the NACC that the Solicitor-General and/or the Australian Government Solicitor found the J - Power transaction was legal and had provided such advice to NAIF’s Chief Legal Officer; (Mr Chris Collins).

After one hundred and sixteen days, (116), the NACC has failed to produce an assessment indicating that NAIF and/or ASIC have produced documentation which should have arisen from NAIF’s Chief Legal Officer seeking advice, [for NAIF’s Board, Chairperson, CEO and the two ministers, (King and Gallagher), responsible for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016], from legal counsel available to NAIF within the Australia Public Service, (APS).

As seen below, in an email from the Director of the Office of the Inspector of the NACC, the only advice I have received from the NACC is “that the submission is still “being assessed””.

Despite the stated ninety (90) day timeframe Inspector Furness has determined she will not, at the moment, take action, (by raising the outstanding assessment of the submission with Commissioner Brereton).

The question then for Inspector Furness is at what point does the Office of the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission become involved; (we know how long it took for the Inspector to act in the matter of NACC’s investigation into the aspect of the Robodebt Royal Commission Report which involved breaches of APS code of conduct, nearly a year.

NACC Inspector
Oct 9, 2024, 4:33 PM (16 hours ago)

to me
OFFICIAL

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email, received 6 and 8 October 2024, which I have discussed with the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Inspector).

I understand you are unhappy you have not yet received an assessment outcome from the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), regarding the matter you reported to them, and have been told by the NACC that your submission is still "being assessed".

The Inspector generally considers timeliness of assessing reports as a matter for the NACC and will not take action in your matter for this reason.

Kind regards,

Erin Jameson
Director
Office of the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission

Had Mr Collins and the ASIC Officer, (Mr Peter Witham; who had extensive knowledge of matters pertaining to the still SECRET $610 million concessional loan from NAIF to Genex Power Ltd, going back to 2022), acted ethically and in accordance with APS code on conduct they would have obtained clear legal advice that the proposed Skip Capital takeover and the actual J - Power takeover were indeed legal.

It ought be borne in mind Collins and Witham were willing, in 2022, to have the SECRET $610 million concessional pass to the two individual owners of Skip Capital, (Jackson and Farquhar). What happened in relation to the Skip Capital takeover bid should have raised a “RED FLAG” for these two Australia Government officers in 2024. What motivated Collins and Witham to not respond to concerns raised with them is not known.

Why, as seems to be the case, Collins and Witham did not alert Black J of the NSW Supreme Court of the matters is a mystery; if they did inform Black J of the legal doubts about the transaction Messrs Collins and Witham could have produced evidence. An NACC assessment and/or Inspector of the NACC investigation ought to reveal if Black J was informed by NAIF and/or ASIC and, if not, why not.

Acting as they did meant neither Collins or Witham have been able to state that the organizations they represent, NAIF and ASIC, had legal advice that "although we weren't sure if the proposed transactions were legal, the advice we have, (from the Solicitor-General and/or the AGS), has provided necessary legal clarification and support for the transactions".

The actual situation is that all parties, to both transactions, took the position:-“we don’t know if the transaction is legal but we will act as if it is”. The position(s) taken by Messrs Collins and Witham is what ultimately led to Submission ID 20241774220 - 2635 and attention to it being raised with the Panel conducting the Review of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016.

The other person who played a prominent part in both the Skip Capital and J - Power matters was of course Mr Simon Kidston.

Will the NACC Commissioner and Inspector of the NACC reach a position where Submission ID 20241774220 - 2635 is actually assessed and a report is prepared and made public?

Is the Inspector reticent about announcing an investigation by her Office because then she will have the power to demand documents generated by and between Messrs Collins, (NAIF), and Witham, (ASIC)?

The documents, I would claim, the NACC should long ago have obtained; if for no other reason than to be able to state the handling of the SECRET $610 million concessional loan by NAIF in the J - Power transaction was legal.

For those with an interest in the NACC activities since its inception last year the following link makes for interesting reading:-

NACC Inspector will "investigate" over Robodebt - The Klaxon
Expand
My response to the Director of the Officer of the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Howard Patrick<[email protected]>

10:09 AM (0 minutes ago)

toNACC,Committee,Helen,Senator,SenatorDavid,NAIF, bcc:Rick, bcc:The, bcc:Anthony, bcc:shanedowling

Dear Erin

You should know that I have placed your 9 October email on the HotCopper website.

I have attached to this email the comments I have made on the position which seems to have been reached in terms of NACC's investigation of my submission - it is still "being assessed". I have also posted those comments on HotCopper

The NACC is able to decide, seemingly, at any time, to take "no action". Given this, I am somewhat at a loss regarding your reference to"New Complaint"? Would you please clarify if I need to take any further action?

At the conclusion of the NACC process of assessing my submission, is it Inspector Furness's interpretation of the Act that the NACC is required to provide a report; whether or not it determined "no action" be taken?

I ask this question mindful of the extract from the NACC's, "The investigation process" document.

The document can be found at:-

ttps://www.nacc.gov.au/reporting-and-investigating-corruption/investigation-process

The following is copied from the document:-

"At the completion of an investigation the Commissioner must prepare a report on the investigation for the Attorney-General (unless the report involves the conduct of the Attorney-General, in which case the report is to the Prime Minister).
The report must set out:
theCommission’s findings or opinionson the corruptionissue
a summary of the evidence and other material on which those findings or opinions are based
any recommendations the Commission sees fit to make and the reasons for those recommendations."

For obvious reasons I would want to see in the report the "evidence and other material on which those findings or opinions are based". The NACC could not possibly properly conduct an investigation without obtaining all documents generated by and held by NAIF, (Collins), and ASIC, (Witham), pertaining to the $610 millionSECRETconcessional loan and the Solicitor-General and/or the AGS.

I have another two questions to add to the two above:-

Will Inspector Furness place a time limit for the NACC to assess my submission?

Will she require a report, (based on the above guidelines), be produced by the NACC?

Yours sincerely

Howard Patrick

NB

I have cc'd this email to the Committee Secretary of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Committee's Chairperson, Senator Karen Grogan, and one Member, Helen Haines MP.

The Committee won't obtain meaningful information about how the NACC seems to be disregarding corruption; for the public HotCopper will be a source of such information. The situation seems well described by the recent words of Senator Lidia Thorpe; "Minister, is this about maintaining corruption and keeping it in house." Senator Watt answered with the predictable; No.

I have also cc'd my ACT Senator, David Pocock, who was made aware, back in 2022, of the Genex Power Ltd / Skip Capital transaction which was not questioned by NAIF's Chief Legal Officer, Mr Chris Collins, despite the proposed clear contravention of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016.

The above willingness, of NAIF's Chief Legal Officer, to have NAIF contravene the Act in the Skip Capital matter and then to not seek legal clarification on making NAIF funds available to a foreign corporation has led me to again bring the attention of the the Panel reviewing the NAIF Act 2016.

The Genex Power Ltd story, to a significant extent documented on Hot Copper, reveals how ethics and APS code of conduct can be disregarded; (Collins and Witham).

More and more journalists, like those I have bb's, are going to be making the public aware that the NACC is going along the SECRECY pathway; long adopted by ASIC.

Well worth reading is what was said in the Senate when an attempt was made to amend the NACC Act.

The ALP and the Coalition want to maintain almost complete secrecy with hearings.

The SNACC has already become another ASIC.

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/28068/&sid=0081
GNX Price at posting: 27.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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