Canberra Institute of Technology ordered to pay over $2 million to abandoned consultant contractor

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Canberra Institute of Technology has been ordered to pay up, over an abandoned $5 million contract with consultant company Think Garden. The company's owner Patrick Hollingworth took the CIT to court after a review of its value for money.

Transcript

00:00It was the pause that steered the case to the courts.

00:05The CIT put the contract on hold, leaving Mr Hollingworth in limbo with little choice

00:11but to cancel it himself.

00:13And as the judge noted today, all in the glare of public attention.

00:18The existence of the agreement became a matter of public controversy.

00:23Internal and external investigations commenced in relation to the agreement.

00:28It was a difficult chapter for the CIT, with Chief Executive Leanne Cover resigning after

00:34corruption findings by the ACT's Integrity Commission, which found she failed to consult

00:39with the board about multi-million dollar contracts.

00:42She's now fighting those findings in the ACT Supreme Court.

00:46There's no suggestion Mr Hollingworth did anything wrong, and as the court found today,

00:51he was entitled to recover damages.

00:54Just not as much as he'd hoped.

00:56In the original claim, Mr Hollingworth sought more than three million dollars.

01:00But in the final analysis, Justice Mossop agreed with the CIT that the termination was

01:06not requiring payment of the whole of the contract price, but instead only that part

01:11of the contract price to which the plaintiff became entitled before the date of termination.

01:18Patrick Hollingworth didn't show up for today's judgment, no doubt dodging the cameras after

01:23complaining he'd found the public attention quite messy.

01:27But with interest, he secured 2.4 million dollars and his court costs.

01:33It's not known if there'll be an appeal.

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