Former VicTrack boss breached code of conduct: auditor-general

afr.com:

The former boss of Victoria’s rail agency breached its code of conduct by suggesting that a government joint venture should grant him an equity stake, the state’s auditor-general has found after investigating how $20 million of taxpayer funds were lost on a company created to remotely monitor bridges.

Former VicTrack CEO Campbell Rose, who left the agency on February 7 after a year of unexplained leave, made decisions at Eloque, a joint venture between VicTrack and US company Xerox, that went “against the code of conduct, the requirements of his employment contract and the terms of his secondment to Eloque”, the inquiry found.

The auditor-general has been investigating the rail agency’s decision to invest taxpayer funds in Eloque, which was set up in 2021 to develop sensors to monitor thousands of bridges for cracks.

Former VicTrack rail boss Campbell Rose suggested a government joint venture, Eloque, should grant him an equity stake. The proposal did not go ahead. Andrew De La Rue

The Australian Financial Review revealed in May 2021 that engineers had contacted former premier Daniel Andrews to ask why the government had given millions of dollars of work to Eloque without a competitive tender process.

The joint venture had a $50 million budget from the Victorian government but it collapsed just 16 months after it was established having cost taxpayers $20.4 million without getting any reliable data from the bridge sensors.

In a report released on Wednesday, the auditor-general said that in July 2021, Mr Rose, who was appointed Eloque’s interim CEO without a competitive process, and another seconded VicTrack employee had proposed a remuneration plan for Eloque’s executive management that included themselves.

The scheme