Independent Commission Against Corruption (New South Wales) Information & Independent Commission Against Corruption (New South Wales) Links at HealthHaven.com

Independent Commission Against Corruption
	Independent Commission Against Corruption
Abbreviation	ICAC
	Logo of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Agency overview
Formed	1988
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	State of New South Wales, Australia
Legal jurisdiction	As per operations jurisdiction.
Governing body	Government of New South Wales
Constituting instrument	Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988
General nature	Law enforcement; Civilian agency;
Specialist jurisdiction	Anti corruption.
Operational structure
Headquarters	Level 21, 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Agency executive	David Ipp, Commissioner
	Website
	http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au
	Footnotes
	* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

For other uses, see Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is an independent agency of the Government of New South Wales with responsibility for investigating corrupt practices by state and local officials in the state of New South Wales. The ICAC was established in 1988 by then premier Nick Greiner.

The organisation is typically referred to by its initials, as in "the I-C-A-C", or simply as "ikak".

[edit] Structure and operation

The ICAC has jurisdiction over state and local government in New South Wales. This extends to parliamentarians, local councillors, the Governor of New South Wales, public servants, police and staff of universities and state-owned corporations.

Anyone can refer matters to the commission.

The commission has the coercive powers of a Royal Commission and can compel witnesses to testify. Where the ICAC rules that an official has acted corruptly, the charges are referred to the criminal justice system for trial.

The ICAC is led by a single commissioner, who, though the agency belongs within the New South Wales Premier's Department, reports directly to the presiding officers of the Parliament of New South Wales. The commissioner serves a single five-year term and cannot be dismissed except by the Governor.

[edit] Development

The 1980s saw a number of corruption scandals break around Australia, involving the Labor administrations in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, the Liberal Party government in Tasmania and the National Party administration in Queensland.

In 1988, Greiner, a Liberal, ran against Labor in New South Wales on an anti-corruption platform and won. Introducing legislation to establish the ICAC, Grenier told Parliament that

In recent years, in New South Wales we have seen: a Minister of the Crown gaoled for bribery; an inquiry into a second, and indeed a third, former Minister for alleged corruption; the former Chief Stipendiary Magistrate gaoled for perverting the course of justice; a former Commissioner of Police in the courts on a criminal charge; the former Deputy Commissioner of Police charged with bribery; a series of investigations and court cases involving judicial figures including a High Court Judge; and a disturbing number of dismissals, retirements and convictions of senior police officers for offences involving corrupt conduct.... No government can maintain its claim to legitimacy while there remains the cloud of suspicion and doubt that has hung over government in New South Wales.

[edit] History

The ICAC's first task was to investigate the activities of the previous Wran and Unsworth governments. No charges were recommended by the commission.

In 1992, the ICAC ruled that Greiner offer of a government job to former minister Terry Metherell was an act of corruption. Although the charges were later dismissed by the courts, the four independent MPs on whom the premier relied for a majority in the Legislative Assembly indicated that they would not support his leadership. Greiner resigned and was replaced by John Fahey.

[edit] Commissioners

The ICAC is led by a single commissioner, who serves for a non-renewable term of five years. Five people have held the post since the commission's establishment:

Ian Temby QC, 13 March 1989 to 12 March 1994
The Honourable Barry O'Keefe AM, QC, from 14 November 1994 to 13 November 1999
Irene Moss AO from 14 November 1999 to 13 November 2004
The Honourable Jerrold Cripps QC from 14 November 2004 to 13 November 2009
The Honorable David Ipp AO from 16 November 2009

[edit] High-profile cases

[edit] External links