Ex-Ipswich CEO jailed
Former Ipswich City Council chief executive Carl Wulff has been jailed for receiving close to $240,000 in corrupt payments.
Legal action on the kickback scheme has also seen Mr Wulff’s wife Sharon Oxenbridge, businessman Wayne Myers and contractor Claude Walker jailed for their involvement.
It is some of the first real fallout from a wide-ranging Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into Ipswich council, which recommended 86 criminal charges against 15 people.
Mr Wulff and his three co-offenders set up a complex arrangement that saw him accept envelopes stuffed with cash, gifts and other corrupt payments.
A bogus consultancy company called Bojangles Pty Ltd allowed Mr Wulff and Ms Oxenbridge to accept payments to treat Mr Myers and Mr Walker favourably on council contracts.
The judge found Ms Oxenbridge employed herself as a consultant “fully aware you would not be providing any consultancy work”.
The couple also had a deck built at home through the corrupt arrangement.
Mr Myers was given 30 per cent of Mr Innes' profits from council work.
Mr Wulff pleaded guilty to two counts of official corruption and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice, and was handed a four-and-a-half-year jail sentence, suspended after 20 months.
Mr Myers, Ms Oxenbridge and Mr Walker all pleaded guilty to one charge of official corruption.
Ms Oxenbridge and Mr Walker received three-year sentences, suspended after nine months, while Mr Myers was handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence, suspended after six months.
“The conduct in which the four of you engaged is conduct which can only serve to undermine public confidence in local government,” Chief Justice O'Brien said.
“The corruption secured favourable treatment - treatment not available to those who were prepared to operate legitimately and transparency.
“You must be punished for what you did.
“General deterrence and the need for public denunciation for such conduct, in my assessment, is an important consideration in this case.”