Senior education executive stood down as Trad probe begins
A senior executive from Queensland’s education department has been stood aside, as a corruption probe that cost Jackie Trad the deputy premiership gets underway.
Trad quit her ministerial duties on Sunday after the corruption watchdog said it was investigating claims she interfered with the selection process for the principal of a new high school in her electorate.
She denies any wrongdoing and says sheāll fully cooperate with the Crime and Corruption Commission investigation.
It has since emerged that a senior education department executive was stood aside.
The departmentās Director-General Tony Cook did not name the executive for privacy reasons.
But Education Minister Grace Grace has indicated in comments to The Courier-Mail that the action is related to the probe examining Tradās actions.
āIt is my understanding that the Director-Generalās actions relate to a matter that is currently being investigated by the CCC,ā the minister said on Monday.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has appointed a new cabinet after Tradās resignation as deputy premier and treasurer.
Trad said she had no personal, political or professional links to any of the applicants for the principalās role in question, and never expressed a view about who should get the job.
Trad had previously come under scrutiny by the CCC over the purchase of a house near the State Governmentās flagship Cross River Rail project.
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The watchdog looked into the purchase but found no evidence to support a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct.
But it did recommend changes to the way conflicts of interest are dealt with, including criminal penalties if MPs fail to declare such conflicts and donāt update their register of interests.
-AAP
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