{"id":366652,"date":"2025-11-09T10:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T10:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/366652\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T10:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T10:29:13","slug":"home-affairs-official-blows-whistle-on-allegedly-corrupt-millions-in-offshore-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/366652\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Affairs official blows whistle on allegedly \u2018corrupt\u2019 millions in offshore detention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat was the environment that we were enabling by pouring money into a trough, basically, of broken contracts and services \u2026 I had a moral problem with that, and I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a contract renewal he oversaw in mid-2021, Elias claims he identified up to $16 million in taxpayer dollars paid to Canstruct for nonexistent or unnecessary services. He suspected the firm\u2019s overcharging ran into the tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

The public servant said he recently gave crucial evidence to an ongoing federal police corruption probe into Canstruct.<\/p>\n

The inquiry, codenamed Operation Bernie-Beveridge, is examining how Canstruct had charged Home Affairs millions of dollars to pay for insurance premiums now suspected to have been used to insure fast cars, mansions, expensive art and a yacht.<\/p>\n

Elias alleged Canstruct had pressured Home Affairs to pay the multimillion-dollar insurance premiums during contract negotiations and concealed the firm\u2019s decision to use taxpayer funds to insure personal items.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do remember at the last negotiation that Canstruct made it very clear \u2026 to me personally in the corridor … they were happy to negotiate on a variety of things, but not the insurances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brett<\/p>\n

Brett Whiteley\u2019s Self-Portrait at 44 is one of the allegedly insured artworks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found it very confronting,\u201d he said of the suspected abuse of funds, while also claiming he was encouraged to cover up suspected wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a very strong culture within that Home Affairs regime at the time where questioning the decisions to keep things going in Nauru would not be conducive to your employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re expected to stay quiet about your concerns. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Elias\u2019 visibility over suspected Home Affairs contract dealings ceased in 2021, his decision to go public comes with the Albanese government facing growing scrutiny around a separate immigration deal with Nauru.<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/p>\n

Arthur Boyd\u2019s The Old Mine is another of the allegedly insured artworks.<\/p>\n

The tiny country recently agreed to take hundreds of former immigration detainees deemed too dangerous to stay in Australia. Nauru is granting visas to the so-called NZYQ cohort in return for up to $2.5 billion in Australian taxpayer funds over 30 years.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, another whistleblower, former Australian soldier Oisin Donohoe, revealed how the Finks bikie gang had infiltrated this deal via a Nauruan security company in an attempt to make millions of dollars from this pool of funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty confronting to know that an outlaw motorcycle group was running a company that had got a government contract [on Nauru],\u201d said Donohoe, who previously served almost five years as a rifleman in the Australian Army.<\/p>\n

He described it as \u201cmind-boggling\u201d that bikies could be part a \u201ccontract to oversee quite a significant national security item\u201d.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

A 2024 inquiry by former spy chief Dennis Richardson raised similar concerns to those of Elias about Home Affairs\u2019 failure to safeguard government funds on Nauru in respect to the offshore processing regime.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government regards its offshore processing arrangement on Nauru as entirely separate from the NZYQ deal, despite both involving huge sums of public money spent on the notoriously corrupt island.<\/p>\n

The Richardson inquiry led to departmental reforms meant to improve due diligence surrounding offshore immigration contracts.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Home Affairs insisted that improved controls had been embedded in its ongoing offshore processing regime, which comprises about 100 asylum seekers on Nauru.<\/p>\n

But documents provided to this masthead suggest unlawful activity, including the artificial inflation of subcontracts, continues to occur under the watch of the company hired by Home Affairs to replace Canstruct to run offshore processing on Nauru, MTC.<\/p>\n

MTC referred queries from this masthead to the department.<\/p>\n

Elias said he believed the rorting of Australian funds continued apace on Nauru.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind that that happened and it continues to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Elias said he had wrestled for years with the idea of becoming a public whistleblower.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been on my mind for a very long time but ultimately, I think it\u2019s almost a duty,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s very important for the public to know how their money has been misspent.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Aston Martin Superleggera, similar to that alleged to have been insured.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were propping up a system that was unaccountable. We were paying for things that didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elias also hit back at what he described as attempts by Home Affairs to cast a cloud over his honesty and motivations, saying he stood to gain nothing by airing his claims and had been unjustly attacked by his employer for accusing it of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really, really sick of it,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve done anything wrong. Why would I have to apologise or feel guilty about pointing out that we have spent money that we shouldn\u2019t have, and it\u2019s gone to people who have put it in their own pockets?\u201d<\/p>\n

Canstruct has previously faced allegations it paid subcontractors owned by or connected to suspected corrupt Nauruan politicians, who then pocketed excessive profits.<\/p>\n

One of those accused of improperly benefiting from these kickbacks is President David Adeang, who signed the recent NZYQ immigration deportation deal with the Albanese government.<\/p>\n

In his interview, Elias claimed it was an open secret in Home Affairs that suspected corrupt Nauruan officials would seek to profit from Australian taxpayer-funded offshore immigration deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanstruct had a very cosy relationship, I would say, with the government of Nauru providing additional services and favours, sweeteners, if you will, that they paid to the government of Nauru, which I found quite shocking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adeang has a sordid history of suspected corruption. Australian security agencies previously warned the federal government he might have pocketed alleged kickbacks paid by firms subcontracted to run Australia\u2019s offshore processing regime on Nauru in 2020.<\/p>\n

Adeang has also been suspected of using Australian banks to money launder funds meant to be used to run offshore processing, according to intelligence briefings shared with federal government agencies and senior ministers.<\/p>\n

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declined an interview request, but the Home Affairs Department said in a statement that its offshore processing regime was carefully managed and included \u201crobust\u201d due diligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuppliers must meet ethical, performance and diligence standards expected of them as suppliers to the Commonwealth, and they must have the capability and capacity to deliver and perform in accordance with the agreed contract terms and conditions,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Canstruct did not respond to a request for comment but has previously declined to comment on the allegations being probed by the AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat was the environment that we were enabling by pouring money into a trough, basically, of broken contracts…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":366653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-366652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115519276461655717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}