Former public servant avoids jail after conspiring to defraud Department of Finance through government contracts
Gopalakrishnan Suryanarayanan Vilayur, 54, was handed an intensive corrections order for three years and four months and is required to serve 300 hours of community service. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
A former public servant who conspired to defraud the Department of Finance has avoided jail, with a judge describing his crime as "thoroughly dishonest".
Gopalakrishnan Suryanarayanan Vilayur, 54, was handed an intensive corrections order for three years and four months and is required to serve 300 hours of community service.
The court found he conspired with two other men, former public servant Raminder Singh Kahlon and businessman Abdul 'Alex' El-Debel, to dishonestly obtain money from the federal government.
They did this by preparing candidates from their own companies, or companies they were associated with, for contract roles with the intention to reap a profit, between March 2019 and June 2020.
Vilayur pleaded guilty to the charge in March, but a suppression order prevented the media from reporting on it at the time.
Co-conspirators Raminder Kahlon (left) and former public servant Abdul 'Alex' El-Debel (right) were both found guilty of conspiring to manipulate the recruitment processes for IT staff in the federal Department of Finance. (ABC News)
Trio's scheme stood to make $1.6 million
The ACT Supreme Court heard Vilayur was an executive level two (EL2) employee at the Department of Finance, with his two co-conspirators working under him.
Justice David Mossop on Thursday said the scheme involved the trio conspiring to distort the government's procurement processes with the intention of making a profit for Vilayur and Kahlon's respective labour hire companies, New Horizons and ALGORAM.
El-Debel was to receive a cut for advising and influencing IT recruitment panels, the court was told.
The Australian Federal Police investigated the group after a complaint was made in February 2019.
Intercepted phone calls over the following 14 months found the co-conspirators would prepare candidates from their own sub-contracting companies.
The court heard Vilayur would provide preferred contractors with "advanced knowledge" of the recruitment process.
One interviewee reported back to the offender that he was asked the exact questions provided to him and in the same sequence as practised.
Justice Mossop said when the three were arrested in June 2020, the "profits intended [were] largely not realised".
In Kahlon and El-Debel's shared trial, it was unclear how much the trio were set to profit had their plan not been foiled by police.
However, a spreadsheet kept by Vilayur revealed "a very significant potential gain" of $1.6 million to be made over 12 months by the end of 2020.
The Finance Department terminated all contracts which had been arranged by the co-conspirators, although the sub-contractors were then re-hired by other companies.
'Motivated by greed, not need'
During sentencing, Justice Mossop reiterated remarks made by his now-retired colleague, Justice Michael Elkaim, in the decision of the co-conspirators' case, stating it was "motivated by greed, rather than need".
"It involved a significant breach of trust as both contractors through their own companies and as employees," he said.
Justice Mossop referenced a psychologist's report which noted Vilayur had "no recognition of what he had done was wrong".
"The offender has not demonstrated any real remorse," Justice Mossop agreed.
The judge said while it was "not possible" to know if the Commonwealth made a loss from the scheme, he noted there were significant government costs associated with investigating the scheme.
Vilayur's co-conspirators are currently each serving a three-and-a-half-year intensive corrections order after a jury found them guilty in 2022.