Victoria’s integrity watchdog has found public officials withheld information on an estimated $257 million in flawed COVID-19 business grants.
Senior public servants in one state covered up losses suspected to be worth hundreds of millions arising from flawed COVID-19 business support payments, an investigation has found.
During the pandemic, the Victorian government spent an estimated $257 million on support grants to some 9,000 ineligible businesses.
An investigation by the integrity watchdog has found senior officials within the department responsible for making those payments covered up the extent of the losses from their managers.
“This was not a one-off event, nor was it due to an oversight,” the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission report reads.