Adele Graham, a former employee of Transport for NSW (TfNSW), has found herself living a life on the move rather than enjoying her later career years, driven by concerns for her safety after exposing significant corruption within the department. In an interview with A Current Affair, Graham detailed shocking claims amounting to over $110 million in corrupt activities she allegedly witnessed while overseeing the vetting of companies during the tender process for maintenance and delivery.
Graham asserts that contracts were being awarded disproportionately, with one company—Protection Barriers—receiving contracts far exceeding what was warranted. Initially, Protection Barriers was set to receive $2.2 million from 2016 to 2019; however, this escalated to $104 million over an extended period, despite the company’s actual workload being inflated from $7 million to nearly $30 million.
Her concerns about this unfair allocation of contracts and suspicions of her manager, Ibrahim Helmy, benefiting from potential kickbacks prompted her to lodge an internal complaint, resign, and report her findings to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Her testimony is believed to have been pivotal in instigating a covert anti-corruption investigation, labelled Operation Wyvern.
In a series of raids executed last year, investigators targeted both the TfNSW Yennora office and Protection Barriers’ headquarters in Grafton, NSW, seizing assets valued in the millions, including luxury cars and cryptocurrency.
When approached by A Current Affair, Protection Barriers’ founder Jason Chellew dismissed inquiries regarding the ongoing ICAC investigation, expressing frustration at the questioning. A Current Affair does not implicate Chellew or Protection Barriers, which is currently under administration.
The matter continues to unfold, with reports indicating that Helmy, Graham’s former manager, failed to appear at an ICAC investigation and has an arrest warrant issued by NSW Police. A spokesperson for TfNSW stated that the department fully collaborates with ICAC in addressing any allegations of misconduct.
As this story develops, both Graham and the integrity of public sector procurement face significant scrutiny following these explosive allegations.