ACT leader Richard Prebble is refusing to speculate on the matters that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) states it is still investigating with regard to the Waipareira Trust.

“ACT has forwarded all of the allegations alleging fraud to the SFO, which cover other issues not referred to in today’s report from that office,” Mr Prebble said.

“Some will take some time to investigate. It has never been ACT’s intention to try the Trust in the court of public opinion and for this reason ACT has not raised these other issues in Parliament and is quite willing to allow the SFO to determine the correctness or otherwise of the allegations.

“We raised the issues that concerned Parliament in Parliament and the other issues have been sent to the appropriate organisations – the SFO and the Office of the Auditor-General,” he said.

ACT will forward today’s Serious Fraud Office findings to the people who made the allegations against the Trust.

“The allegations are serious and must be examined. The Prime Minister has acknowledged that the allegations do show some mismanagement by the Trust and more seriously lax contracting by government departments,” Mr Prebble said.

“ACT is pursuing the issue of the lack of accountability by government departments contracting to provide social services. For instance, while it appears the Trust broke no law in skimming up to 23% off government social contracts to finance property deals, that was not the intended use of taxpayers’ money.

“The answer is not to revert to government bureaucracies. Organisations like the Waipareira Trust have been innovative providers. What is needed is for transparent accountability systems to ensure taxpayer’s money is spent effectively and correctly,” Mr Prebble said.

ENDS

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