‘Serious corrupt conduct’ sees Canada Bay mayor suspended

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A mayor in Sydney has been suspended from office after the ICAC found he engaged in "serious corrupt conduct". It's ruled the mayor of Canada Bay accepted expensive overseas trips from developers in exchange for his support.

Transcript

00:00 For more than 20 years he's had the honour of being called Mayor.

00:06 Now Angelo Siricus has the dishonour of being branded seriously corrupt.

00:11 I think it's pretty disgraceful.

00:12 I mean at the end of the day you put trust in these people.

00:16 I think the corruption runs pretty deep.

00:18 At an inquiry last year the ICAC heard the Canada Bay Mayor took 24 overseas trips from

00:25 2015 to 2019.

00:28 It's now found that Mr Siricus accepted almost $19,000 worth of flights, accommodation and

00:34 other expenses from property developer iProsperity.

00:38 Adding the then Labor Mayor used his office to support the company's bid to develop a

00:43 46-storey apartment on this site in the suburb of Rhodes.

00:47 The ICAC says Mr Siricus also failed to disclose a close friendship with one of iProsperity's

00:53 agents.

00:54 I have after receiving the ICAC report suspended the Mayor from Civic Office with a view of

01:01 having him dismissed and disqualified.

01:04 The message has to go out there, if you're a crook you're going to get caught.

01:08 Mr Siricus has told the ABC he believes the findings are based on errors of fact and law

01:15 that have been wrongly attributed.

01:18 Adding planning approval was solely within the control of the government.

01:22 Canada Bay Council says the Deputy Mayor will now stand in but it won't comment further

01:28 until it's reviewed the report.

01:30 The Director of Public Prosecutions will now decide whether to pursue criminal charges

01:35 against Mr Siricus.

01:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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