A retired public servant has admitted to keeping iPads sent as kickbacks after he blew $83,000 on printer cartridges for Western Australia’s Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Minas Frangoulis, 60, fronted the Adelaide Magistrates Court yesterday pleading guilty to one count of failing to act honestly while working as a public sector employee.
It was heard that while working as a records and resources officer for WA’s Department of Premier and Cabinet’s Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division, Frangoulis ordered 216 printer ink cartridges amounting to $83,036 from Victorian company Universal Cartridges.
Frangoulis purchased the cartridges between February and September 2011 and subsequently received four iPads from Universal Cartridges as a reward for his business, which he then kept.
Pocketing kickbacks is a breach of public service conduct and state law, which brought on the charges against him.
Frangoulis told the court he did not believe his outlay on the cartridges was excessive, asserting that the cartridges he purchased last 10 times longer than other brands.
Frangoulis’ defence, Nic Kavanagh explained to the court, “The cartridges allowed for 10 times the amount of printing for, effectively, a lesser cost.
“One cartridge from Universal Cartridges does 10,000 prints, while those the Department was obtaining from its previous supplier allowed for 1000 prints.”
Magistrate Ian White said the amount Frangoulis spent on the cartridges was excessive and this would be taken into consideration when deciding on the appropriate penalty.
Frangoulis is expected to front sentencing next week and could face a maximum four years jail time with a $15,000 fine.
The case was part of a larger probe launched by the Crown Solicitors Office in 2012 which investigated 23 other cases of public servants embroiled in corruption for purchasing office equipment at inflated prices to receive kickbacks.
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