The NDIS Fraud Files

During this Estimates hearing, I questioned the NDIA regarding an investigative series on NDIS fraud by Pete Zogoulas and Drew Pavlou, asking if the agency had launched any audits, compliance actions, or law enforcement referrals based on their reports.

I specifically tried to ask about any investigations into individuals named Jamal Sabsabi, Josef Yusif, and Marcia De Menezes. Mr Dardo declined to comment on individual cases and defended the agency’s broader enforcement system. He emphasised that the agency has identified and removed thousands of fraudulent providers through both public prosecutions and non-public measures, such as manual payment reviews and search warrants.

Mr Dardo further stated that journalists would have no way of knowing the full scope of the NDIA’s confidential actions, adding that some public matters highlighted in the videos had already been actioned by the agency long before the series was produced.

Transcript

Senator ROBERTS: NDIA, is the agency aware of the investigative series into NDIS fraud produced by independent journalists Pete Zogoulas and Drew Pavlou that has reportedly exceeded two million views on YouTube and more than 100 million views across other platforms? Has the agency reviewed these investigations, and have any audits, compliance actions or referrals to police or the CDPP been commenced as a direct result of the matters they raised?  

Mr Dardo: We clearly cannot comment on individual cases, so I won’t respond at an individual level in relation to that case. What I would say at a broader system level is that, as I’ve previously stated in these hearings, there have been thousands of providers that we’ve identified and removed. In some cases, those providers have been removed through actions that are in the public domain, and you can find them in the public domain because there are administrator reports or there are prosecution outcomes or convictions. Then there are actions where we’ve removed them because we’ve implemented manual payment reviews. When we implement those manual payment reviews, that may not be in the public domain but that’s still thousands of providers that have been treated through those actions where we’ve reduced their ability to claim without us vetting the claims. Then there would be investigations where we’ve executed search warrants which may not be in the public domain. Again, members of the public would not know that we’ve done those warrants. Then there would be cases where investigations are ongoing or prosecutions are imminent or other interventions have occurred that are not in the public domain. So, at a broad level, what I can say is we can’t comment on that case, but there would be no way for any of the people that you’ve referred to to know what we have or have not done in that case, other than the fact that there are some things in the public domain that they have seen or pointed to that we had already actioned well before those videos were produced. 

Senator ROBERTS: Has the NDIS launched any internal investigations in response to this reporting that I specified—in particular, into Jamal Sabsabi, Josef Yusif, Marcia De Menezes—  

ACTING CHAIR: Senator Roberts, the official has already said that he won’t be commenting on individual cases.  

Senator ROBERTS: I’ll put the questions on notice then because they’re replete with specific cases.  

ACTING CHAIR: Fair enough. Do you have anything else, Senator Roberts?  

Senator ROBERTS: No, I don’t. Thank you, Mr Dardo. Thank you for your succinct answers.