The former chief executive of V/Line was grilled for hours on Monday over money paid on his home loan that he is alleged to have taken as a reward for awarding a cleaning contract for the state's train network.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
James Pinder faced the questioning on day one of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission hearing.
The allegations come out of Operation Esperance, which investigated allegations of serious corrupt conduct during the tendering, procurement and management of a major contract awarded to TransClean, based on undeclared relationships Mr Pinder had within the cleaning company.
The company is responsible for the cleaning of metropolitan and V/Line trains, including those that run on the North East rail line.
The investigation uncovered suspect bank account transfers in 2019 between Mr Pinder and associates of TransClean and communication over burner phones, which will be the subject of day two of the hearings on Tuesday.
Counsel assisting the IBAC Paul Lawrie said there was an expectation that public officers "carry out their duties with integrity, transparency and without influence".
"The treatment of TransClean may have also affected the ability of Metro and Vline to properly oversee and assess the ability and sufficiency of cleaning services provided by TransClean," he said.
"The ability of VLine and Metro to monitor the performance in this regard has never been more important than now as the state faces the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Much of Monday's hearing revolved around a $320,000 loan Mr Pinder took from a woman connected to TransClean for his home loan.
"This was your payment for championing and securing TransClean being awarded the contact in 2018," Mr Laurie said.
Mr Pinder replied "that's not true".
He said TransClean was awarded the contract to help improve the "poor" cleanliness of the state's trains.
"We were at every stage trying to improve the services we provided," he said.
Mr Pinder has been stood down as V/Line chief executive pending the investigation.
The IBAC hearings resume on Tuesday.
