V/Line boss took loan from cleaning company for home deposit, IBAC told

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V/Line boss took loan from cleaning company for home deposit, IBAC told

By Timna Jacks

Former V/Line boss James Pinder pocketed a secret $100,000 loan from a cleaning company he had awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to just a day before promising Victoria's anti-corruption commission IBAC he had stamped out wrongdoing at the regional rail operator.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission on Monday launched live-streamed public hearings into "suspected collusion by public officials" at V/Line and Metro to advance the commercial interests of a cleaning contractor, Transclean, in return for financial benefits.

Former V/Line boss James Pinder is being questioned by IBAC over allegations that public officials received financial gain in return for granting cleaning contracts.

Former V/Line boss James Pinder is being questioned by IBAC over allegations that public officials received financial gain in return for granting cleaning contracts.

Mr Pinder received $320,000 in total from Transclean, IBAC heard, including a $100,000 loan that helped pay for a deposit on his $2.5 million Williamstown home, months after Mr Pinder awarded the company a contract worth up to $40 million with V/Line.

He was given the remit to clean up corruption at V/Line after a 2017 probe into "unfettered cronyism" within senior management, but three years later is himself the subject of a far more severe corruption investigation, with the inquiry hearing he pocketed payments from Transclean while claiming he was cleaning up the operator's protocols.

The $100,000 payment from Transclean – the first of a series of instalments from late 2018 and early 2019 – was made seven months after Mr Pinder took direct control of V/Line's contract with the company, instead of it being managed via the operator's board. This gave Mr Pinder the power to decide if the contract should be extended for a full seven-year term, adding $23 million to its value, well over the $5 million he was authorised to oversee.

IBAC's counsel assisting Paul Lawrie suggested at Monday's hearing that Transclean's loan to Mr Pinder was payment for "championing and securing" its contract in 2018, to which Pinder responded: "That's not true."

Metro's head of fleet operational support Peter Bollas is also accused of pocketing cash from Transclean, with IBAC revealing Mr Pinder, Mr Bollas and Transclean boss George Haritos used burner phones to communicate secretly with each other over a period of four years. The trio will face IBAC this week.

Transclean is the cleaning contractor for V/Line and Metro, and performs security work for Yarra Trams.

The commission heard cash paid by Transclean to Mr Pinder was sourced from various entities connected to Transclean and funnelled through a Transclean employee, Marie Tsakopoulos, whom Mr Pinder described as a friend he had met at a bar. Mr Pinder admitted he discussed the payment with Mr Haritos before it was transferred.

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Mr Pinder prepared a document for Ms Tsakopoulos after he was raided by IBAC investigators, the hearing was told, which summarised the nature of their relationship and the loan. Mr Pinder claimed he wrote the document to remind Ms Tsakopoulos of the details as "she's a bit ditsy", which was flatly rejected by Mr Lawrie.

Former V/Line chief executive James Pinder's Williamstown home.

Former V/Line chief executive James Pinder's Williamstown home.Credit: www.realestate.com.au

"I put it to you quite frankly Mr Pinder, that is just a fiction," Mr Lawrie said. "This is a document that you prepared and provided Maria to square away a story between the two of you about where that $320,000 came from."

"I panicked," Mr Pinder said.

Mr Pinder said he took the money because he was desperate to buy the property before his wife and stepchild arrived from the UK, admitting he orchestrated an "elaborate ruse" that involved him taking money from "unusual sources", including $10,000 in cash from his real estate broker at National Australia Bank.

Mr Pinder said he made a "mistake" and "in my heart, I knew it was the wrong thing to do".

Asked why he didn't accept cash from people other than V/Line suppliers that had offered to loan him money, thereby avoiding a conflict of interest, Mr Pinder said: "I don't know the answer to that question."

Mr Pinder drew blanks on several basic questions about how his home was financed, prompting commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, to at one stage ask: "What's going on here?"

Mr Pinder said he regularly socialised with employees at V/Line, Metro, Transclean and other suppliers at Crown Casino and at horse races.

Mr Lawrie accused Mr Pinder and Mr Bollas of allegedly "using their positions to financially benefit Transclean and themselves".

Transclean made several payments to Mr Pinder between late 2018 and early 2019, totalling at least $320,000, "which went towards the purchase of the [Williamstown] property, and which ultimately traced back to Transclean", Mr Lawrie told the hearings.

Mr Pinder allegedly started using a burner phone to communicate with Transclean's boss Mr Haritos and Mr Bollas after he was appointed as V/Line's chief executive.

The commission heard the trio communicated this way for four years – in a bid to keep their "dealings beyond detection", Mr Lawrie said. The phones were subscribed in the names of Transclean associates.

Mr Pinder, Mr Bollas and Mr Haritos have known each other for nearly a decade, with Mr Bollas reporting to Mr Pinder when he was head of rolling stock at Metro between 2012 and 2015, Mr Lawrie said. Transclean was Metro's cleaning contractor at the time. Mr Haritos and some Transclean workers were invited to Mr Pinder's wedding.

Mr Pinder left Metro in 2015 and returned to the UK, but was poached as chief executive of V/Line, where he started working in late 2016.

IBAC launched an investigation after detecting a number of "suspect bank account transactions" between Mr Pinder and "associates of Transclean".

In a separate inquiry in 2017, IBAC uncovered a "jobs for mates culture" that saw executives bypass tender rules to grant friends and associates large contracts.

The hearing continues.

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