Now we all know that if anyone, especially those who wish to blow the whistle on corruption, read the newspapers, watch the telly or even listen to the Executive of an Area Health Service like SSWAHS, sees something that looks corrupt and smells corrupt there is a good chance that it is corrupt.
Socrates has been told that a community member from the Highlands wrote to ICAC in November 2009, with a statement that there had been alleged corrupt conduct by a staff member working in the Bowral health services. Basically, the allegations related to the staff member entering on his time sheet that he was on duty at work when he was, in fact, at home painting his house. So, he was effectively being paid by SSWAHS to paint his house instead of working with the health service and doing his job. I guess we all have some idea of just how long it does take to paint a house in Bowral when you're doing it yourself! A second allegation made to ICAC about this same individual was that when rostered on-duty on weekends he sometimes took to a couch and had a nap instead of contacting health consumers or visiting patients in the hospital or the community.
The behaviour of this person looks corrupt and smells corrupt so you'd think that ICAC would be interested in it. Well, no they weren't. The reason given was that the member of the community "had no direct knowledge of the allegations of these complaints", and if the staff member "was intentionally missing work to do something at home, it does not appear to meet the requirement of serious and systemic corrupt conduct." At least the ICAC did decide to refer the matter of the allegations to the AHS "for their information" and action if SSWAHS deemed it appropriate. Oh, dear! I hear you groan. Another of SSWAHS's internal investigations!
Well Socrates does have to uncover his head to them because SSWAHS did send along that pesky investigator of theirs who spoke to a couple of staff who, apparently, were able to confirm the truth of the activities of the staff member described in the letter to ICAC. One of the Vestal Virgins (or was it the Muse?) of the Bowral Temple heard that the SSWAHS investigator's parting comment went something along the lines of "Hmmm! as there is no photographic evidence that these events did take place, I suspect that nothing will come of it". And blow my flute and dance a bacchanalia - he was right!
So next time you attend court before a magistrate tell him or her to forget the statements of eyewitnesses and others and demand to see their photographic proof.
I guess most businesses would be somewhat unwilling to keep employed someone who defrauded the business by falsifying documents like a time sheet and who continued the fraud over some time. Strange isn't it, that recently ICAC spent a lot of time and money investigating a certain NSW politician over her falsification of her staff member's time sheets. So I guess her falsification of time sheets did "appear to meet the requirement of serious and systemic corrupt conduct." Go figure it!
Well if you are so inclined to rort your employer - get a job with SSWAHS. Socrates has heard that they recently made that particular staff member a Manager. I guess it takes one to know one - which is a good line on which to finish this post.
