The Crime and Corruption Commission’s (CCC) 2020-21 Annual Report has been tabled in State Parliament today by the Attorney-General.
The report summarises the CCC’s activities, achievements and performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2021, and highlights the diverse work undertaken by the CCC to combat major crime and reduce corruption for the benefit of the Queensland community.
Some of the operational outcomes of our work in the 2020-21 financial year include:
- Charging 27 people with 535 criminal offences resulting from major crime and corruption investigations,
- Holding 233 days of private hearings and examining 228 witnesses relating to crime and corruption investigations,
- Finalising 33 civil confiscation matters resulting in assets valued at $8.68M being forfeited to the State of Queensland after they were identified as the proceeds of crime,
- Providing 203 recommendations to units of public administration throughout Queensland to prevent corruption, and
- Providing 237 intelligence disclosures to law enforcement agencies on a range of topics.
CCC Chairperson Alan MacSporran QC said the outcomes achieved by the CCC demonstrate the value and importance of an independent agency that continues to focus its resources on reducing the incidence of major crime and corruption in Queensland.
“The CCC’s focus on illicit markets of high value or high public impact, crimes involving actual loss of life or serious injury to a person, crimes against children and vulnerable victims, and corruption involving elected officials, misuse of confidential information and the exploitation of public sector resources shows the breadth of our work,” Mr MacSporran said.
“In the last financial year, the CCC received 3,490 complaints that contained 8,563 allegations of corruption. In the same period, 29 corruption investigations and 32 crime investigations were finalised, and 27 people were charged with more than 500 criminal offences.”
The CCC continued to target professional facilitators and enablers of crime. Operations Jackal and Mercury investigated allegations that legal professionals were facilitating the criminal activities of their clients. Both operations resulted in legal professionals, their clients and associates facing more than 400 criminal offences including charges of money laundering, fraud and possession of dangerous drugs.
“By directing our efforts towards the systems and expertise that enable or facilitate serious crimes, we have been able to identify and exploit criminal network vulnerabilities. We have also undertaken an assessment of money laundering to gather insights into the extent and nature of the activity within the community and advanced our capability to investigate cryptocurrency-enabled crime,” Mr MacSporran said.
The CCC tabled three investigation reports in State Parliament in 2020-21:
- An investigation into allegations relating to the appointment of a school principal – July 2020
- Investigation Keller: An investigation report into allegations relating to the former Chief of Staff to The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, Premier of Queensland and Minister for Trade – September 2020
- Investigation Arista: A report concerning the investigation into the Queensland Police Service’s 50/50 gender equity recruitment strategy – May 2021.
In 2020-21, the CCC continued its important work to investigate allegations of corruption within Queensland’s public sector and finalised 29 corruption investigations.
“Our investigations uncovered serious and systemic corruption involving trusted public officials and public sector employees who took advantage of their position. Four people were charged with 67 criminal offences from corruption investigations and 64 recommendations for disciplinary action against 33 persons were made,” Mr MacSporran said.
A copy of the 2020-21 Annual Report is now available on the CCC's website.
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