A west suburban councillor renowned for his red Ferrari and plan to build a $10 million mansion and helipad in Tarneit is under investigation by Victoria's local council watchdog.
The Victorian Local Government Investigations and Compliance inspectorate has launched the investigation of Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan in response to a Sunday Age report in September revealing his repeated failure to declare property and commercial interests, including large swaths of farmland in his own, fast developing municipality.
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Intaj Khan is hard to ignore
Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan is under pressure over land, business & Labor deals.
Confirmation of the investigation comes with voting under way in council elections across the state, and amid a flood of complaints in various electorates, including about dummy candidates, vandalising of councillor election material and campaign misinformation.
The probe also comes amid mounting concern, including in local government circles, about a lack of policing to ensure councillors fully declare properties, businesses and conflicts of interest.
Under local government laws councillors and staff are required to lodge twice-yearly returns detailing property and corporate holdings.
The Sunday Age pieced together a list of the properties Cr Khan and related companies have owned since his election to the council in 2012.
Matched against his twice-yearly register-of-interest returns, the analysis pointed to multiple apparent breaches, each subject to a fine of more than $9000. For one six-month period, in late 2013 to early 2014, Cr Khan lodged no return at all.
"It's all declared, all declared," he said when The Sunday Age first raised the gaps in his returns. He later said that any failure to declare interests was an oversight.
While welcoming the inquiry into Cr Khan, senior local government figures in the west said they were concerned about the lack of ongoing scrutiny of councillor probity, and a lack of rigor when the inspectorate did conduct such investigations.
Municipal Association of Victoria chief executive Rob Spence confirmed concern across local government that the inspectorate had been insufficiently visible and active in recent years.
He noted that for two years from 2014, it had been overseen by an acting chief inspector, and that it had suffered from a lack of resources and clout.
The inspectorate's website lists completed prosecutions triggered by its investigations. No prosecutions are noted since 2013.
Seasoned chief municipal inspector David Wolf returned to head the inspectorate in June after three years elsewhere in the public service. Senior government sources believe his return will lead to a more active and visible local government watchdog.
Indian born and raised, Cr Khan arrived in Australia in 1998. In less than a decade he amassed a $70 million fortune, his wealth coming from a controversial private training college and property speculation in and around Wyndham.
He is eyeing the Wyndham mayoralty, and a parliamentary seat, and is at the centre of a local row over bankrolling of dummy candidates in the current election
Last year he unveiled plans for a $10 million Tarneit mansion – dubbed the "Intaj Mahal" and probably the largest private residence in Melbourne's west – to feature 16 bedrooms, two swimming pools, a tennis court, a 30-seat home theatre, a seven-car garage and a helipad.
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