The person at the centre of three corrupt conduct findings by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) is allegedly someone who worked at the Northern Territory's Department of Infrastructure as chief financial officer.
Leah Atkinson worked as the chief financial officer and chief operating officer at the Batchelor Institute of Tertiary Education.
Before then, annual reports show she worked at the Department of Infrastructure as chief financial officer between 2013 and 2016.
The Department of Infrastructure was responsible for $1.56 billion in infrastructure delivery from 2015-16, before it merged into the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics.
The ICAC issued a public statement in which it revealed details about Operation Pacific last Thursday, finding that a public officer allegedly committed corrupt conduct in attaining those roles. The ICAC did not name her, nor her workplaces.
The ABC believes that Ms Atkinson is the public officer in question.
According to the public statement, in 2013 the officer in question allegedly claimed to have tertiary qualifications required for the chief financial officer position. The ICAC alleges she did not have these qualifications.
ICAC's public statement also states that in 2017, the officer in question allegedly forged a statutory declaration claiming she was a certified practising accountant — a claim ICAC said was false — to be hired.
The same statutory declaration was then allegedly used to get the position of chief operating officer the following year.
The commissioner, Michael Riches, noted several inconsistencies and errors in the statutory declaration which should have prompted further scrutiny.
The ABC has obtained documents showing efforts were made by at least one Batchelor Institute employee to verify Ms Atkinson's status as a certified accountant, but no matching records could be found by CPA Australia.
Batchelor Institute is a tertiary education provider based in the Northern Territory, which enrols students only of Indigenous heritage.
Department, Institute silent on personnel audits
When contacted by the ABC for comment, Ms Atkinson said she was unaware of the allegations made by the ICAC, saying "no idea what you are talking about".
She did not respond to subsequent requests for comment.
The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics (DIPL) and Batchelor Institute were contacted for comment.
DIPL said any questions on an investigation should be referred to ICAC, and did not respond to questions on whether it was auditing its personnel records following these findings.
Batchelor Institute did not respond by deadline.
Last Thursday, Mr Riches released details about 'Operation Pacific', listing off the allegations of corrupt conduct without detailing the name of the public officer in question nor public bodies they worked at.
He recommended public bodies, such as government departments and tertiary education organisations, conduct an audit of personnel records for positions where qualifications are a requirement.
Mr Riches declined to answer questions from the ABC.
'Vast majority' do the right thing, chief minister says
In his statement outlining the findings of Operation Pacific, Mr Riches raised concerns about whether recruitment processes in NT government departments are effectively weeding out job applications with false details.
He said he believed the case was "not an isolated incident".
Last July, the ICAC revealed it had received at least 140 tips specifically on the subject of recruitment, warning it was likely an area at risk of corrupt conduct.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said fraudulent job applications were a minority but added the government was reviewing its processes.
"The large percentage of public servants do the right thing — they're really hardworking people that have the interests of good public policy at heart," she said.
"But unfortunately, like everywhere, there are some bad eggs so we will review our processes to make sure we catch those who are doing the wrong thing."
The government has not indicated whether it will order its departments to implement the ICAC's recommendation of an audit of personnel records for positions which require qualifications.
Earlier this week, the government emailed all of its workers urging them to 'carefully verify' qualifications following the publication of Operation Pacific.
