Company director charged over alleged kickbacks in Pilbara corruption scandal
Richard Carroll has faced court over alleged corrupt dealings with a former official at the Shire of East Pilbara. (ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland)
In short:
A man has faced court over alleged kickbacks to a corrupt former manager at the Shire of East Pilbara.
Richard Carroll faced Perth Magistrates Court on Monday charged with eight counts of corruption.
What's next?
Mr Carroll is due before Perth Magistrates Court again on February 10.
A company director has faced court on corruption charges over alleged bribery of a council official in Western Australia's remote Pilbara.
Richard Carroll, a director of Victorian companies VicFlow and VicFlow Civil, faced court on Monday over his alleged involvement with embattled former Shire of East Pilbara manager Bevan Klein.
He was charged with with eight counts of a public officer acting corruptly in the performance or discharge of their functions after a joint investigation by the WA Police Financial Crimes Squad and the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).
Police said the two companies were the recipients of more than $5 million in contracts from the shire, for which Mr Carroll allegedly paid more than $50,000 in gratuities to Mr Klein.
A CCC report published earlier this month found Mr Klein, while employed as the Shire of East Pilbara's operations manager, had engaged in serious misconduct, favouring VicFlow and the company Dick Tracey when awarding contracts.
Dick Tracey has denied conferring any benefit.
The Newman-based Shire of East Pilbara encompasses an enormous part of inland Western Australia. (ABC News)
The Shire of East Pilbara awarded more than $11 million in contracts to the two companies, according to a CCC report.
Mr Klein and Mr Carroll had previously worked together on the other side of the country, when Mr Klein was employed by the Towong Shire Council and Mr Carroll performed contract work for the shire.
Mr Klein would later cite Mr Carroll as a referee when applying for the position at the Shire of East Pilbara.
The CCC delayed the finalising of its investigation while Mr Klein was holidaying in the Philippines in June last year.
'Community deserves accountability'
Shire of East Pilbara president Anthony Middleton said he welcomed progress in the investigation.
"Our community deserves accountability in how public money is managed. We support efforts to establish the facts and hold anyone found to have acted unlawfully to account," Mr Middleton said.
"The shire reported its concerns to the CCC as soon as there was a reasonable suspicion of misconduct.
"We cooperated fully with the investigation and have strengthened our procurement controls, contract oversight and governance arrangements to better protect public funds."
Anthony Middleton says the shire reported its concerns to the CCC. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland)
Mr Middleton said neither VicFlow nor Dick Tracey was currently engaged by the shire.
"With the matter now before the courts, we will respect that process and will not comment on the specific allegations," he said.
Mr Klein had not returned from the Philippines by the time the CCC report was published at the start of October.
His representation cited "significant health conditions and financial problems" preventing his return.
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