Qld procurement conviction lowers Australia's place on corruption index

16 Nov 2010

Source: The Australian
SOMALIA is the most corrupt country in the world; Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are the least. These are the findings of this year's annual Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International, a corruption monitoring organisation based in Berlin.

Transparency International uses "bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds and questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of public-sector anti-corruption efforts" in determining its index.
The former Queensland minister for industrial relations and health, Gordon Nuttall, no doubt contributed to Australia's figure of 8.7 (below New Zealand, Canada and Singapore amongst others) and most likely will make a similar contribution with his latest conviction to next year's figures. He was found guilty of five counts of official corruption and five counts of perjury on October 27 and will be sentenced in the week beginning November 22.

He is already in jail serving time for receiving secret payments.

The court heard evidence that Nuttall arranged government contracts to benefit Brendan McKennariey, a Labor Party friend who paid him about $150,000 in kickbacks. The contracts were in hospital waste-water and workplace safety.

Read more here