31/01/2025
MASSIVE BUILDING AUTHORITY CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN VICTORIA!
Three Victorian Building Authority (VBA) employees have been charged with accepting bribes from builders to push through dodgy registrations, allowing them to bypass proper checks and get approved without proving their qualifications.
A total of 28 men appeared in court facing bribery and corruption charges after a major IBAC sting operation exposed the scandal. It’s alleged that bribes were exchanged for builder registrations, and some VBA staff members actively facilitated this corruption.
Who’s Been Charged?
VBA STAFF CHARGED:
🔴 Phillip Caccamo – VBA official, allegedly accepted multiple bribes to approve builder registrations, bypassing proper assessments.
🔴 Ben Sano – VBA official, allegedly accepted a bribe on behalf of Ozcan Oztas to approve a commercial builder’s licence.
MIDDLEMEN & FACILITATORS:
🔴 Omer Faruk Oztas – Faces 26 charges. Allegedly acted as a middleman to help 17 builders have their applications fraudulently approved.
🔴 Fatih Oztas – Assisted Yuk Ching Ko in bribing Phillip Caccamo to obtain VBA registration.
🔴 Andy Yousif Iso – Conspired with Ozcan Oztas to bribe Phillip Caccamo to fast-track his builder registration.
🔴 Serdar Celik – Conspired with Ozcan Oztas and Omer Oztas to bribe Phillip Caccamo to approve Meryem Celik’s application.
BUILDERS CHARGED WITH BRIBERY:
🔴 Jason Jie Yang – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas to obtain a builder registration for Wang Chen.
🔴 Bhairava Prasad Naganoori – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 David Janev – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Omer Muhammed Yuksel – Encouraged Phillip Caccamo to assist Niko Ntoulelari in obtaining VBA registration and conducted the interview himself, despite a conflict of interest.
🔴 Rinku Maggon – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Akshay Thakur – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Selim Ozgan – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Kesu Nadem Elyas – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Nemaja Krneta – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Orhan Bardan – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration for Engin Bardan.
🔴 Ashur Albazi – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Roberto Farah Makoul – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Danny Jian Yang – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Tajit Singh Arora – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for his own and Balihar Singh’s registrations.
🔴 Bhilinder Singh Bawa – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Yuk Ching Ko – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Selahattin Toprak – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Thomas Chillico – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Benedetto Giuseppe Sano – Received a bribe on behalf of Ozcan Oztas to progress a commercial builder registration.
🔴 Kamil Yucel – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Yasar Bolat – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Gaylan Nadem Elyas – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Inderjit Singh – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
🔴 Balihar Singh – Bribed VBA officials via Ozcan Oztas for a builder registration.
Next Court Date:
All 28 accused appeared in court, and the case has been adjourned until April 22 for further proceedings.
This scandal has exposed serious flaws in Victoria’s builder registration process, raising major concerns about how many unqualified builders were approved due to bribery.
What do you think should happen to those involved? Should there be harsher penalties for corruption in the building industry?
source:
https://www.facebook.com/share/15pEJ87VP5/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Building authority staffers were allegedly bribed to rubberstamp dozens of building licence applications, allowing builders to skip the queue without proving their credentials.