The Western Australian Ombudsman says he will resign after the corruption watchdog made a finding of serious misconduct against him for deliberately trying to deceive Treasurer Rita Saffioti over a lucrative contract with the OECD. The Corruption and Crime Commission was also damning of Chris Field for setting up what is called a ‘sham process’ to approve hundreds of thousands of dollars of international travel for himself by bypassing the premier’s approval.
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00:00A deliberate attempt to mislead the Treasurer of the State and an unmanageable conflict
00:08of interest.
00:09It doesn't get much more damning than that in relation to the work of the CCC.
00:14The corruption watchdog has found Chris Field used the resources of the State to carry out
00:18his work as President of the International Ombudsman Institute.
00:23More than $223,000 worth of jet-setting in 2022-23 alone, paid for by the WA taxpayer
00:32even though he was doing no work as the State Ombudsman on those trips.
00:36A CCC report has uncovered what it calls a sham process where Mr Field did not seek approval
00:43from the Premier for travel as required.
00:46The report found Mr Field approved his own travel before the business case was created
00:52and of course the business case always supported the decision he had already made.
00:57The finding of serious misconduct relates to a contract he entered into for his office
01:02to pay the OECD more than $200,000 to conduct a survey.
01:07The CCC found when Treasurer Rita Safioti enquired about the contract, he provided her
01:12with information falsely claiming procurement processes had been correctly followed and
01:18that the project would benefit WA.
01:20I'm disappointed with what transpired.
01:23I'm very disappointed and I think it goes to the point that even though you're an independent
01:29authority you have to be accountable for your actions.
01:32The CCC found Mr Field was not motivated by greed or personal gain, but acted in arrogant
01:39disregard of his functions, but he says he was denied procedural fairness by the corruption
01:43watchdog and will request a review of its findings.