Department of Communities corruption scandal: Andrew Mitchell charged over creating shell company for Paul Whyte

Andrew Mitchell has become the fourth person charged over the Department of Communities corruption scandal, accused of having a company set up that he and Paul Whyte subsequently used to defraud the agency of nearly $400,000. Police allege the 57-year-old East Fremantle father “entered into an arrangement” with Mr Whyte, the former Department of Communities assistant director-general, and used a shell company to submit 16 fraudulent invoices with a total value of $393,000 between February 2017 and June 2018. It will be further alleged Mr Whyte then approved payment for each invoice, which was valued between $24,000 and $25,000. No work was completed in return for the payments, police claim. Mr Whyte, 57, pleaded guilty to more than 500 corruption charges last month and is also facing money laundering offences over the $22 million rort. He will now face 16 new charges as a result of the latest investigation involving Mr Mitchell. As reported by The West Australian in April, the shell company at the centre of the latest alleged fraud — Urban and Regional Engineering — was registered by Fremantle architect Andrew Macliver in February 2017. In a prepared statement at the time, which did not name Mr Mitchell, Mr Macliver said he was totally unaware of how the company was being used and described himself as “another victim”. “I very naively trusted the person who approached me,” he said. Mr Mitchell was arrested on July 8 when his East Fremantle home was also searched. He declined to comment on the charges when contacted yesterday. Mr Macliver is not understood to be under investigation and The West Australian does not suggest he acted inappropriately or misconducted himself in way. Property records reveal Mr Mitchell and his wife own two properties in their name, a Dunsborough holiday unit purchased in 2013 and a historic commercial office building in East Fremantle they picked up in 2016. A company listing Mr and Mrs Mitchell as directors, Lizabella Pty Ltd, bought the East Fremantle home — where Mr Mitchell was arrested — in March 2006 for $995,000. A ledger of payments made to Department of Communities’ consultants, obtained exclusively by The West Australian, reveal Urban and Regional Engineering was paid nearly $400,000 between March 2017 and June 2018, with Mr Whyte shown as having personally approved each payment. Two invoices from April and July 2017, seen by The West and apparently bearing Mr Whyte’s signature, totalled $48,928 and purported to be for reports relating to the Department of Communities’ Keralup Development. “Several years ago, I entered into what I believed to be a legitimate business venture with a trusted person,” Mr Macliver’s statement said. “I had no knowledge of the invoices that were generated, or of the payments made on those invoices.” Physiotherapist Jacob Anthonisz and bookkeeper Paola Colanegelo have previously been charged over the scandal. Mr Mitchell will appear in court on July 30.