April 2017

Issued by:
· Simon Nikoloff
· Gerard Gallagher

CERA: Alleged Conflicts of Interest Inquiry for State Services Commissioner

We note in the Final Report by Michael Heron QC – following the “Allegations of Conflicts of Interest Inquiry” for the States Services commissioner – that:

· Allegations of any criminality were completely unfounded;
· We were found to be people of integrity;
· There was no finding that any ‘out-of-work’ activities affected CERA in any way;
· We trusted (relied on) the people around us to provide the necessary advice in that we disclosed our activities and relied on them to steer us; and on that note
· CERA was found to have process and leadership deficiencies, and could have managed the situation better.

“We maintain that the CERA legal team, leadership and CERA’s external legal team were aware of what we were doing with our outside business interests. Coming from a business background, we have pursued various business interests since before joining CERA, and these interests were fully disclosed to CERA.

“In fact, CERA hired us because they needed our extensive private business networks, knowledge and commercial expertise – expertise and connections that CERA did not have. They chose not to advise us there was a potential conflict. We acknowledge we should have declared what we were doing in writing.

“We were expected to introduce investors, including our own networks, to private property opportunities in the city and we did so. We value our networks and always acted properly and professionally.

“We relied solely on publicly available information and knowledge. We did not invest in any properties nor did we earn any fees as falsely reported by some media.

“We have worked with many local and overseas investors and we have been highly effective in promoting the Central City Recovery Plan and attracting and securing investment that has advanced the rebuild and recovery of the CBD.”

Not further comments will be made concerning this inquiry.

ends.

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