Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) was told that John Allman, the department’s south-eastern regional director, arranged for Silverton Primary School to become one of the “banker schools” being investigated.
Allman, who kept Silverton’s records at his house, said IBAC officers searched his home in 2014 but failed to find them. After the officers left, Allman, in “rage, upset and trauma” destroyed the documents.
“I went into somewhat of a panic after eight IBAC officers visited my house,” Allman told the inquiry.
Allman was sacked yesterday following the revelations.
The investigation – dubbed Operation Ord – was launched on Monday to look into alleged corruption within the Victorian Education Department.
The investigation found that more than $2.5m in public school funds were allegedly funnelled to companies linked to Education Department chief, Nino Napoli, who was subsequently sacked.
Three secretly recorded conversations in which Allman and Napoli discussed the IBAC inquiry were played at the hearing. In them, the pair could be heard discussing Allman’s concerns that IBAC would investigate practices at Silverton.
The inquiry has revealed that over a number of years, at Allman’s request, Napoli transferred “several hundred thousand” dollars to Silverton Primary School from the student resource budget.
“It was common practice,” Allman said, adding that he hid the documents due to the illegalities involved with the scheme.
"The banker school arrangement has never been a legitimate practice of the education department so clearly I had something to hide."