According to a report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, former Liberal minister John Sidoti participated in significant corruption.
The anti-corruption body looked into the Drummoyne MP, who is now independent, for his efforts to persuade council members to rezone plots in Sydney’s inner west where his family had property.
According to the investigation, “Mr. Sidoti engaged in substantial corrupt activity” between “about late 2013 and February 2017”.
The ICAC also determined ‘that consideration should be given to obtaining the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions with respect to the prosecution of Mr Sidoti for the offence of misconduct in public office’.
The DPP is in charge of all prosecutions and decides if any criminal charges may be brought.
Chief Commissioner Peter Hall oversaw Operation Witney, which was presented to the NSW legislature on Wednesday.
It looked into whether Mr. Sidoti had abused his power to inappropriately sway Liberal council members on the City of Canada Bay Council (CCBC) in order to further the property interests of his family.
It was discovered that he engaged in “a lengthy course of action” by trying to illegally influence” council members Helen McCaffrey, Mirjana Cestar, and Tanveer Ahmed while serving as the MP for Drummoyne.
The panel concluded that Mr. Sidoti intimidated and threatened council members in an effort to obstruct their impartial performance of their official duties in order to further his family’s property interests.
Despite his insistence that he was acting in his constituents’ best interests, the report stated that “the outcomes that he wanted those councillors to deliver were entirely directed to his private interest in increasing the development potential of his family’s growing number of properties in and around the Five Dock town center.”
The ICAC discovered that the results he was advocating for were also at odds with what the CCBC had decided to be in the public interest based on recommendations from council staff and independent expert planning consultants “after considerable community outreach.”
The ICAC determined that by “stating that he was operating at all times in the interests of his constituents and the local community,” he violated the public trust.
In addition, Mr. Sidoti violated the requirements of the MPs’ code of conduct and the ministerial code by failing to disclose his ownership of family assets from the time he first entered the legislature in March 2011 until April 4, 2017.
For MPs to better disclose their financial and personal interests, manage their conflicts of interest, and declare them, as well as to “address councillors’ governance obligations, particularly in relation to lobbying, conflicts of interest, and environmental planning issues,” the ICAC made 15 recommendations for preventing corruption.
Mr Sidoti stood aside as sports minister in 2019 after ICAC began its investigation, and later resigned from the Berejiklian government cabinet in March 2021, shortly before the public hearings began.
He denied any wrongdoing throughout ICAC’s investigation.