The ACT Integrity Commission has cleared the Suburban Land Agency of corrupt conduct but identified corruption risks in the way the agency has sold blocks of residential land in the territory.
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The commission found there was no reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct on the part of the agency following three complaints the agency had rigged a process to sell blocks of land in Throsby more than two years ago.
But Integrity Commissioner Michael Adams KC warned there were "potential corruption risks" following an investigation sparked by a mandatory corruption report from the Suburban Land Agency.
Changes to improve the way block allocation processes work were welcome, but the commission said they may not sufficiently deal with the issue of a person using multiple agents to secure multiple registrations.
"One possible and relatively simple option would be to require in the application an express confirmation that the applicant is not acting as an agent for another person or otherwise to identify their principal," the commission said.
The Suburban Land Agency could also include a clause in its contract that the person must not have lodged more than one application for registration, the commission said.
The Suburban Land Agency told the commission it intended to carry out an independent review of the single residential land sales process.
The commission's report, tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, was prompted by three complaints about a book-to-buy process for residential land at Throsby.
Registrations for an online book-to-buy land sale process for Throsby were opened on September 1, 2020, and the blocks were allocated to the first 160 registrants in less than 20 seconds, the Integrity Commission's special report said.
The book-to-buy process requires a person to register for a sales appointment. A sales agent then contacts those who've registered in order of registration to offer them the choice of a block for sale from a list of those available.
A man who wrote to Chief Minister Andrew Barr to complain about a "recent land release scam" said he had contacted the sales agent, which had been contracted by the Suburban Land Agency, to find out if any blocks were available for sale over the counter after the allocation was exhausted. He had been unable to secure a registration.
The complainant said he was told the sales agent would pass on his details to a builder who had secured multiple sale appointments, and would offer to sell the complainant one for $5000 plus a $5000 fee to the sales agent. The complainant said the builder had told him 40 of his staff on the registration day had booked on his behalf.
The director of the sales agent company told the Integrity Commission that at no point did the sales agent provide the contact details of an unsuccessful registrant to a successful registrant and strongly refuted the suggestion the process was rigged in any way.
Another complainant wrote to officials at the Suburban Land Agency to complain builders were offering land for sale at Throsby subject to paying for a construction agreement. The agency referred the matter to the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.
A third person complained about the process but did not complain builders were involved.
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The commission dismissed the corruption reports, saying there was no basis for a reasonable suspicion the registration process was rigged to give any advantage to successful registrants.
"Nevertheless, it seems clear that gaming by bidders of the book-to-buy system as it was configured is a real risk to the integrity of the process," the commission's report said.
"Although a registrant (or group of registrants) can only obtain one appointment and only select one or two blocks and must, if obtaining an appointment, provide evidence of identification, any number of registrants could be acting as agents for a third party and, thus, enable that undisclosed third party to bypass the requirement intended to ensure the widest number of putative purchasers are able to participate."
The commission said the process needed to be examined and adjusted, if necessary, to provide "reasonable assurance that this kind of problem will not arise in the future".
The Suburban Land Agency told the Integrity Commission it had changed its registration system, so prospective buyers would register their interest at any time during a specified window.
"The registrations are then selected using a ballot system, rather than on a 'first come, first served basis' such as Book to Buy. The process of block selection occurs at a subsequent stage," the committee's report said.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
