Allegations of political influence in the ICAC’s investigation into Labor’s alleged misuse of public funds during the 2020 NT election have been raised by independent MLAs, following revelations a party member with undisclosed conflicts of interest was involved, while Commissioner Michael Riches has admitted “errors have been made”.

The NT Independent revealed on Monday that Office of the ICAC staffer Ben McCarthy had not disclosed two potential conflicts of interest before working on the major corruption investigation into the Territory Labor Government’s alleged misuse of public funds, including that he was previously a member and campaigner with the Australian Labor Party and that he had a personal relationship with a former senior NT Government adviser – and witness in the investigation – with whom he had discussed a political career on the fifth floor of Parliament before being hired by the OICAC.

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