Corrupt council manager sobs as judge jails him for taking $70,000 in bribes over lucrative contracts

A corrupt council assets manager who took cash bribes in exchange for securing lucrative contracts for his associates sobbed as he was jailed – alongside the person who bribed him.

Vivek Goel, 46, was found guilty of 14 charges of corruption and bribery of an official, four charges of corrupt use of official information and two charges of obtaining by deception following an eight-week trial at the High Court in Christchurch late last year.

The former Westland District Council assets manager was responsible for 67% of the council’s spending between 2015 and 2017.

Justice Rob Osborne sentenced Goel to three years and eight months imprisonment at the Christchurch High Court on Wednesday, telling him his crimes were far from being victimless.

READ MORE:
* Cake decorator who helped defraud Westland taxpayers of $459,000 could be deported
* Witness says a driver’s licence tester asked for bribe after failed test
* Westland District Council finishes contract review

The judge said Goel’s deceit had tarnished the reputation of the council and eroded its relationship with the local taxpaying community – and the council itself said his conviction had shattered its reputation amongst contractors and the public.

Amar Singh, 63, the director of a company that benefitted from Goel’s corruption, paid him cash bribes totalling $70,690 in exchange for being awarded a series of asset management contracts valued at almost $500,000.

Singh was found guilty on 14 charges of corruption and bribery of an official and one charge of obtaining by deception. He was also found guilty on nine charges of obstructing a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation by providing false or misleading information.

He was jailed for three years and seven months, Justice Osborne noting that the bribery payments to Goel would have almost certainly continued if not for the SFO investigation.

That investigation, which began in 2017, found a trail of unexplained cash payments, the sharing of confidential spreadsheets and evidence of “serious corruption”, the Crown said at the trial.

Goel used confidential information gained in his position to secure lucrative contracts for himself, Singh and others to benefit directly from, without them being released for public tender and while accepting bribes to do so.

Travel records and cash withdrawals showed Singh took out money and payed it to Goel in person on more than one occasion in order to obtain confidential information on how to successfully win local government tender contracts.

Many of the charges were focused around three procurement processes, including the Franz Josef wastewater treatment plant redevelopment. The $7 million contract was awarded to a startup company – Technoservices Ltd – with cake decorator Neha Bubna listed as its sole director.

Bubna was convicted and sentenced to 10 months home detention by Justice Osborne in February, after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of obtaining by deception.

At sentencing, Goel’s lawyer James Rapley KC detailed that his first 100 days in prison since the end of the trial had been “horrific.” He’d been separated from his three children, for whom he was the sole carer, and had been subject to abuse from other inmates.

Goel, who cried inconsolably in the dock as his lawyer made submissions, was under significant pressure in his personal and professional life at the time of his offending, which drove his crimes, Rapley argued.

However, the judge did not accept this, noting Goel expected to benefit greatly from his corruption.

Singh’s lawyer, Chris Lange, argued his client professionally carried out the work for the contracts he won, and it was not a case of “true bribery of an official to do improper acts”.

A prison sentence would be much harder for Singh than most, Lange said.

“His career is over. He’ll never be able to do government contract work again. That in itself is a significant penalty.”

In sentencing the pair, Justice Osborne noted that their actions had caused external parties to still be suspicious of Westland District Council staff members, tarnishing its reputation.

Many of the personal lives of those who worked closely with Goel had been affected, as they trusted him as a senior member of their team.

However, most of all, “the Westland community has been most let down by this offending.”

Council chief executive Simon Bastion said the offending had tarnished the council’s reputation with both contractors and the public.

“The offender’s actions put council in a position where some members of the public still do not trust that council is managing public funds appropriately,” he said.

“Our staff have spent time and resources investigating the matter and addressing the associated administrative tasks. This has created a significant burden on the organisation, causing delays in other important projects and initiatives,” he said.

Westland mayor Helen Lash, who was a councillor when Goel worked there, said when the Serious Fraud Office began investigating the council conducted its own review of contract procurement.

“Undoubtedly some members of the public still don’t trust us,” she said.

It had put stress and pressure on staff who were not involved in any wrongdoing when some members of the public directed “vile” allegations at them.

Former chief executive Tania Winter alerted the SFO about Goel in January 2017, triggering an investigation. She was later suspended for not alerting the council to her concerns.

She took out a personal grievance against the Westland council and received an $85,000 payout.