Introduction

Purpose

The City of Greater Geelong (the City) is committed to promoting a culture of trust integrity and honesty in the services it provides to the community and in the administration of those services. The City is committed to protecting its revenue expenditure property and intellectual capital from any attempt to gain any financial or personal advantage by deception.

Officers Councillors providers and volunteers must act with integrity at all times and should never engage in Fraud or Corruption.

The purpose of this Policy is to:

• set the City's fraud and corruption risk appetite and commitments;
• outline its commitment to fraud and corruption control; and
• provide the key principles for preventing and detecting fraud and corruption incidents as well as responding to suspected fraudulent or corrupt conduct

Scope

This Policy applies to any irregular or suspected irregularity of a fraudulent or corrupt nature involving a Councillor Council staff volunteers contractors and any associated external parties of Council.

This policy does not cover general misconduct involving a Councillor or Council staff. These matters are dealt with in accordance with the Council's Codes of Conduct and associated conduct policy.

Definitions

This section defines the key terms used in this policy. The definition of fraud and corruption are those contained in the Australian Standard for Fraud and Corruption Control (AS 8001 - 2008).

City - The City of Greater Geelong organisation led by the Chief Executive Officer.

Corruption - Corruption is a dishonest activity where individuals act contrary to the interests of the Council and abuse their position of trust in order to achieve some personal gain or advantage for themselves for another person or for another entity.

Examples of corrupt conduct that must be refrained from are:

• Bribes or secret commissions
• Kickbacks
• Bias and favouritism
• Collusive tendering
• Gifts and hospitality intended to influence a decision - maker
• Paying or soliciting donations for improper political purposes
• Facilitation payments (or 'grease' payments) - (payments or benefits given in return for preferential treatment for something the recipient is required to do by law and with impartiality).

Council - The City of Greater Geelong Council comprised of elected Councillors and led by the Mayor.

ELT - The Executive Leadership Team of the City as constituted from time t