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30 charged over car defect racket
Article from: Sunday Mail (SA)
EXCLUSIVE: NIGEL HUNT

November 29, 2009 12:01am

THIRTY people have been charged after police smashed two rackets involving car enthusiasts and hoons paying public servants to wipe clean their driving records.

An eight-month Anti-Corruption Branch inquiry has resulted in 144 bribery and corruption-related offences being laid against 30 people four of them customer services officers in the Transport Department.

Another two Transport Department employees have been reported for offences including corruption and making a false statement to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.

The two rackets one allegedly involving a member of the outlaw Finks bikie club and an associate are claimed to have involved the Transport Department employees taking bribes to illegally manipulate the department's computer system (known as TRUMPS) to:

DELETE records of car defects originally issued by police.

REMOVE the ``wrecked'' status of cars.

ALTER drivers' licence records so people could obtain new licences they were not qualified for.

The payments to Transport Department employees allegedly ranged from $50 to $1000.
In many cases, dangerous, unroaddhworthy vehicles were unlawfully returned to roads avoiding strict inspection processes standard for defected cars.

Police believe almost 40 cars had defect records removed in the two rackets dating back to October last year.

All vehicles have now either had those defects reinstated or repaired by their owners while several cars have gone missing, possibly moved interstate.

The cars involved ranged from family sedans to high performance Japanese sports cars owned by enthusiasts.

The defects ranged from altered suspension components to extreme engine modifications.
In one of the rackets, the alleged ringleader ``touted'' for business after identifying and approaching owners of defected vehicles using websites, his connection with a car club and car race meetings at Mallala.

ACB officer-in-charge Commander Phil Cornish said the investigation, which concluded last week, started in April after drug branch detectives were alerted to the first alleged racket while investigating the manufacturing ofjl amphetamines.com manufacturing.

Codenamed Operation Dexter, the complex defects investigation involved up to 12 ACB officers and detectives seconded from suburban CIB offices.

``The operation shows we can gather and dedicate the resources we need to tackle a major inquiry such as this for a protracted period,'' Commander Cornish said.

``We will be alleging the rackets were well organised, systematic and widespread. They allegedly exploited vulnerabilities in the (Transport Department) computer system.''

He said the first charges were laid in June after a co-ordinated series of raids targeting 10 houses in the metropolitan area led to nine arrests three people on corruption charges and six on drugs charges.

Among those charged was Finks bikie Christopher William Corbett, who faces one count of ``bribing a public officer to do act or make omission''.

He appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday and was remanded on bail.com to appear in January.

An associate of Corbett's, Trevor Allan Terrell, also appeared in court on Friday. He is charged with three counts of ``bribing a public officer to do act or make omission'' and identity theft. Another charged was the alleged female ringleader of the first racket, who is facing 25 corruption offences.

Commander Cornish said an audit of the Transport Department's TRUMPS computer system by department managers uncovered more ``irregularities'' police then discovered the second racket, running separately and coincidently.

However, the second racket was ``more widespread'' than the first and on occasions had involved ``intermediaries'' approaching those with defected cars on behalf of the alleged ringleader.

One of those intermediaries, a Hackham man, 20, is facing 21 counts of bribing a public officer and will appear in court in January.

The alleged ringleader of the second racket, a Morphett Vale man, 25, was charged with 41 corruption offences. He will appear in court again next month.

Three of the four charged Transport Department employees, who face 69 corruption offences collectively, have been suspended, pending the outcome of their court cases. One has resigned.

A charge of bribing a public officer carries a maximum sentence of seven years in jail.

The Sunday Mail understands the Transport Department has since changed processes, procedures and practices for using the TRUMPS computer system within the customer services area since the discovery of the two rackets.

In June, Auditor-General Simon O'Neill tabled in State Parliament a scathing report of TRUMPS , saying it was introduced or went ``live'' in late 2007 with a number of defects.

A comprehensive audit found deficiencies in its handling of payments in matters ``associated with information security controls''.

``The audit found in relation to TRUMPS that excessive privileges had been granted to personnel which exceeded the access necessary to perform their job functions,'' Mr O'Neill stated.

``This provided the possibility for users to perform unauthorised transactions, compromise the integrity of production data, and change confidential data on the system.

``Also, segregation of duties relating to selected critical process roles were not automatically enforced within the TRUMPS system. This may also provide an opportunity for inappropriate creation and completion of transactions''.