IBAC can prosecute certain offences or refer matters to the Office of Public Prosecutions.
We cannot:
- decide if a person is innocent or guilty
- determine entitlements and liabilities.
Investigation outcomes
For outcomes of specific IBAC investigations, see Investigation reports.
IBAC determines if there's been corruption or police misconduct, at the end of an investigation.
If we find evidence of corruption or police misconduct
We may:
- bring criminal proceedings
- refer matters to the Office of Public Prosecutions
- refer matters to another entity (including - if appropriate - the public body we investigated) for disciplinary or other action
- make recommendations about matters arising out of the investigation to an organisation’s relevant principal officer, the responsible Minister or the Premier and request a response
- publish public reports and produce key risk and prevention resources.
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We may:
- make no finding
- take no action
- recommend preventative action if we identify systemic issues and organisational corruption risks. This could include:
- recommendations to strengthen the practices, policies and procedures of the public body
- providing information to help employees learn how to prevent corruption and misconduct.
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We share the outcomes of private and public investigations in our annual reports and investigation reports.
A key part of IBAC’s corruption prevention and education is preparing and tabling special reports to the Victorian Parliament on major investigations into serious corruption issues or sectors and themes.
Special reports examine and discuss the evidence in an investigation. They also provide observations and recommendations on preventing and improving systems in the organisation we are focused on. Sometimes, reports contain ‘adverse comment’ about witnesses or others involved in the investigation.
Under our duty of ‘procedural fairness’ or ‘natural justice’, anyone subject to an adverse comment has the chance to respond before the report is published. They can seek legal advice about their response but this is not publicly funded. Our reports include responses from interested parties.
If we decide to identify someone in a report who’s not the subject of adverse comment, we must be satisfied it’s in the public interest and won’t unreasonably damage their reputation, safety or wellbeing.
