The Department of Home Affairs has cleared itself of any wrongdoing in an investigation over alleged visa bribery claims, without interviewing the man whose allegations led to the inquiry.
The investigation was sparked by claims made by a man held in immigration detention, Nauroze Anees, that a fellow detainee had bragged to him that he had a connection who could free detainees for $80,000.
A home affairs deputy secretary, Cheryl-anne Moy, confirmed on Monday that the investigation had concluded in January 2020.
"The matter has been closed with no adverse findings," Moy told a Senate Estimates hearing.
"So the department has investigated itself and found that there was nothing to see here," Greens senator Nick McKim said.
Anees told BuzzFeed News he had not been interviewed at all, despite being the person who made the claim that public servants had received bribes in exchange for visas.
He revealed in December that he had further explosive evidence of corruption in the visa system, but had not been able to hand it to investigators because they had not interviewed him.
That evidence suggests a detainee who had been convicted of serious criminal offences had been offered the chance to pay a $50,000 bribe to secure his release. BuzzFeed News has reviewed the evidence and is not publishing further details for legal reasons.
Moy described the inquiry as "quite a deep investigation" into Anees' allegations, "about any staff member who had basically anything to do with the records and files of those indicated".
"There was no connection between the individuals and the detainees. All decisions had been made according to the legislation," Moy said.
The department took on notice a question about why Anees had not been interviewed. “Wouldn’t it normally form part of an investigation to actually interview the person making the allegations?” McKim asked.
The department initially commenced its investigation in February 2019, but it was punted back and forth between the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) and the department over a number of months.
A public servant told the Senate late last year that the investigation would be overseen by ACLEI — but on Monday Moy denied ACLEI had supervised the investigation. She said the department was required to report its results back to ACLEI, which it did on Jan. 21, 2020.
The investigation was conducted by the department's integrity and professional standards team, she said.