Australia paid companies linked to suspected drug and weapons smuggling to run offshore detention, review finds

Report finds contractors suspected of drug smuggling and weapons trafficking were handed multimillion dollar contracts due to a lack of due diligence in the administration of Australia ’s offshore detention regime.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil , has seized on the findings of the inquiry to claim that the now opposition leader Peter Dutton oversaw “an offshore processing regime being used as a slush fund by suspected criminals” when he was the responsible minister.

Despite the damning findings, the Australian government “may have had no option but to enter into contracts with these companies” due to the high risk environments of offshore processing.

The Radiance International contract for refugee “accommodation services” worth $ 17.5 m continued to be paid until May 2022 , nearly two years after Bhojani was convicted and handed a suspended jail sentence for the foreign bribery offences in the same country. In August the AFP conceded it gave incorrect information to the Senate when it said it had briefed Dutton on a foreign bribery investigation into Radiance and Bhojani . Dutton consistently said he was never briefed on the Bhojani matter..