By Henrietta Cook/The Age
Former Keilor Heights Primary School principal Michael Giulieri is one of six men charged over their alleged involvement in a corrupt ring that swindled more than $6 million from Victorian state schools.
After a lengthy investigation, the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) charged Giulieri, along with former education department big-wig Nino Napoli and Napoli’s cousin Carlo Squillacioti and distant cousin Daniel Calleja with 150 criminal offences. These include conspiring to defraud, knowingly dealing with and concealing the proceeds of crime, and producing false documents.
“IBAC’s investigation focused on allegations that senior departmental officers misappropriated funds from the department’s budget, through false and inflated invoicing as well as arranging payment of inappropriate expenses, such as excessive hospitality, travel and personal items,” a spokeswoman said.
A long-awaited report by IBAC released last year found that Napoli obtained the corrupt funds through so-called “banker schools” by “carefully selecting and grooming principals and business managers”.
These principals allegedly signed off on false invoices and received a small cut of the transactions.
Giulieri allegedly conceded during the 2015 hearing that he acted corruptly when he wrote a fake letter requesting $30,000 to pay for work that was never completed.
The former principal allegedly wrote a bogus application requesting education department funds to pay Napoli’s son for work he never did.
The saga has been a major embarrassment for the education department, which has abolished the banker school system that was allegedly abused by the officials.
Australian Principals Federation president Julie Podbury said that she looked forward to the matter being resolved.
“Every education dollar is so hard won. You hate to see a dollar wasted in any way,” Ms Podbury said. “We would be pleased to see the matter properly dealt with.”
with Ewen McRae
