At least 18 federal passport office officials under investigation after scathing audit report

Auditors examined APO contracts and found undeclared conflicts of interest and wrongly identified preferred suppliers

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At least 18 officials within the federal government’s passport office are facing investigation after a scathing audit report revealed multiple instances where conflicts of interest were not declared and preferred suppliers had wrongly been identified ahead of time across $1.6bn in contracts.

The Australian National Audit Office’s report into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australian Passport Office, released Thursday, found its contracting processes “fell short of ethical standards”, including a failure to keep proper documentation, appropriately deal with conflicts of interest and find value for money.

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