Hunter Development Corporation has given documents to a parliamentary committee that shows general manager Bob Hawes had declared his pecuniary interests regarding the Newcastle heavy rail corridor when he worked as a consultant for the government organisation.
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The inquiry into Newcastle and Hunter planning decisions asked the Independent Commission Against Corruption last year to investigate whether Mr Hawes had acted corruptly regarding HDC’s endorsement of the rail cut, given he partially owned property near the site of a major transport interchange that was part of the proposal.
But ICAC commissioner Megan Latham wrote to the inquiry committee last month to inform them that it would not investigate Mr Hawes because it was not reasonably likely that he had acted corruptly.
A HDC spokesman told the Mercury yesterday that Ms Latham’s statement in the letter that noted Mr Hawes did not lodge disclosures when he worked as a consultant for HDC up to 2007 was incorrect.
The spokesman said that HDC provided pecuniary interest records to the parliamentary committee after the matter was referred to ICAC, which Ms Latham had not seen before she wrote the letter in January.
The spokesman said HDC had not been aware that the matter had been referred to ICAC.
