Investigation into the conduct of a Service NSW officer (Operation Mistral)

Findings 7

Allegations are not findings. A commission's finding or opinion of corrupt conduct or misconduct is not a finding that a person is guilty of a criminal offence, and the commissions say so in their reports.

1. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   First, that on 5 January 2019, Ms Benyamin engaged in serious corrupt conduct by agreeing with Fahad Al-Dakak to effect the transfer of the registration of a motor vehicle in return for a financial benefit (see chapter 2).

   Report, page 8, Summary of investigation and outcomes

2. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   Secondly, that on 5 January 2019, Ms Benyamin engaged in serious corrupt conduct by providing Mr Al-Dakak with the wording for a false statutory declaration to facilitate the transfer of the registration referred to above together with instructions concerning how he could ensure she was the customer service officer who dealt with the transaction (see chapter 2).

   Report, page 8, Summary of investigation and outcomes

3. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   Thirdly, that on 5 January 2019, Ms Benyamin engaged in serious corrupt conduct by agreeing with Mr Al-Dakak that she would supply him with the address of the owner of a motor vehicle from the Driver and Vehicle IT System (DRIVES) restricted database in return for a financial benefit (see chapter 2).

   Report, page 8, Summary of investigation and outcomes

4. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   Fourthly, on 30 May 2019, Ms Benyamin engaged in serious corrupt conduct by: • improperly accessing the personal information of an individual whose identity is known to the Commission using the DRIVES restricted database, which she had access to in the exercise of her official functions at SNSW • intentionally disclosing that individual’s personal information to a family member, namely, the individual’s residential address and the licence plate number of his vehicle, knowing that the disclosure of such information was wrongful.

   Report, page 8, Summary of investigation and outcomes

5. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   Fifthly, on 17 July 2019, Ms Benyamin engaged in serious corrupt conduct by: • intentionally and dishonestly causing another SNSW customer service officer to access personal information on the DRIVES restricted database concerning the original purchase price paid by a seller for a vehicle purchased by Ms Benyamin’s sister on behalf of her father, and having that SNSW customer service officer provide that information to her • subsequently disclosing to her sister personal information from the DRIVES restricted database, namely, the price originally paid by the seller of the vehicle.

   Report, page 8, Summary of investigation and outcomes

6. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   First, on 5 January 2019, Mr Al-Dakak engaged in serious corrupt conduct by offering a financial benefit to Ms Benyamin as an inducement to access the DRIVES restricted database for the purpose of effecting a transfer of a motor vehicle to Mr Al-Dakak or an associate (see chapter 2).

   Report, page 8, Summary of investigation and outcomes

7. serious corrupt conduct

   Finding

   Thirdly, on 5 January 2019, Mr Al-Dakak engaged in serious corrupt conduct by offering a financial benefit to Ms Benyamin as an inducement to access the DRIVES restricted database to provide personal information of a third party, namely, an address to Mr Al-Dakak or an associate (see chapter 2).

   Report, page 9, Summary of investigation and outcomes

Recommendations 4

1. Recommendation 1

   That Service NSW implements a risk-based system designed to improve detection of unauthorised access of personal information. As a minimum, Service NSW should use: analytics of access logs across the system to help detect anomalous or other patterns of access that might indicate unauthorised access routine, formalised auditing of individual Driver and Vehicle IT System (DRIVES) restricted database access logs to help detect where customer service officers’ database accesses are unrelated to legitimate transactions.

   Service NSW - investigation into the conduct of a Service NSW officer (Operation Mistral), Recommendations for corruption prevention

2. Recommendation 2

   That Service NSW provides clear guidance on the circumstances where managers can consider allowing an employee to perform transactions in DRIVES for a family member or friend.

   Service NSW - investigation into the conduct of a Service NSW officer (Operation Mistral), Recommendations for corruption prevention

3. Recommendation 3

   That Service NSW establishes a single electronic family and friends register to operate across all service centres to more easily facilitate comparison of information between centres and to help detect: circumstances where customer service officers have acted partially towards family or friends anomalous or inconsistent recording of transactions involving family and friends across centres.

   Service NSW - investigation into the conduct of a Service NSW officer (Operation Mistral), Recommendations for corruption prevention

4. Recommendation 4

   That Service NSW identifies which trend and other relevant information from the register should be reported to the Operational Governance Team each quarter by service centre managers to enable a meaningful assessment of whether relevant.

   Service NSW - investigation into the conduct of a Service NSW officer (Operation Mistral), Recommendations for corruption prevention

Published responses 3

• 24 month report - Service NSW

  Progress report

• 12 month report - Service NSW

  Progress report

• Action plan - Service NSW

  Action plan

Coverage

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