A former Sydney council employee and a contractor are in the crosshairs of a corruption probe over a series of contracts.
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The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption will hold public hearings in June to investigate whether the pair used a company to undertake recruitment services without disclosing interests in the firm.
The corruption watchdog will also look into allegations the two men improperly influenced the council to enter into a contract with another firm to benefit either themselves or other people.
Ex-Canterbury-Bankstown Council employee Benjamin Webb and former council contractor Pietro Cossu have been the targets of the Operation Mantis investigation, ICAC said in a statement on Tuesday.
But the public probe will also investigate allegations involving unnamed other participants in the purported corrupt contracts scheme.
The probe covers a period spanning from May 2020 until December 2022.
The hearings, beginning on June 3, will aim to gather evidence about the allegations in order to establish whether any corrupt conduct occurred.
It could also recommend legal changes to prevent similar conduct occurring in the future.
The inquiry is due to take place over a period of three weeks, with barrister Georgia Huxley assisting ICAC commissioner Helen Murrell SC.
The council was subject to a previous ICAC probe, which in 2021 found two former councillors, a former general manager and a council planning director engaged in serious corrupt conduct.
The events, which took place between 2014 and 2016, involved the councillors failing to disclose their relationships with property developers, among other findings.
Australian Associated Press
