Tuesday, 27 November 2012

A " Toothless " Tiger ?

The Independent Commission against Corruption ( ICAC ) was supposed to be the first line of defence against politicians rorting the public purse.  It was supposed to be equipped with the powers to delve into suspicious matters and force witnesses to tell the truth or face draconian sanctions.  There is rising public disquiet that a blatant case of profiteering while in office may be way beyond the reach of ICAC.

It seems that two members of the NSW parliament colluded while in office to create a situation that would deliver almost unimaginable riches - and that these would be at the expense of the taxpayers.  It concerned farmland in the Bylong valley - which was purchased under the names of family and friends by a backbencher who was also a powerful factions boss.   Having acquired this property for it's value as farming land, a minister of the crown granted coal mining rights - which increased it's value to the possible tune of a hundred million dollars in the new owners name.

At the very least, this is a blatant case of " insider trading ".   The coal below the farmland is owned by the people of New South Wales and by transferring a license to mine coal to an individual owner, the value of this commodity is lost to the general pool of income on which this state is run.   It was expected that ICAC would come down hard on such a shonky transaction.

Apparently - not so !    There are calls for those coal mining rights to be disallowed, but it seems that both internal and external legal advice indicates that to do so would open the state to millions of dollars of compensation.   The state government simply does not have the power to cancel licenses once given without opening the door for the new owners to take the state to court to recover the profits such a cancellation would pose.

It seems likely the bandits will get away with their loot.  It is quite possible that those involved will face some sort of charges in court, but if they are not prevented from financially gaining from this deception they will cheerfully accept whatever slap on the wrist is imposed - and walk away immensely rich - whistling " Dixie " !

It is interesting that the political party to which these people belonged turfed them out of party membership and disavowed their actions.   It will be interesting to see if both side of politics can agree in a united front to put in place laws to make sure that this never happens again.

It would be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted - but when politics is involved - don't be too sure such a sensible precaution will ever happen !

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