Artworks referred to as missing in a Independent Commissioner Against Corruption review of the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education have been stolen, a whistleblower has said, while the Commissioner has countered that his report “speaks for itself”.

Commissioner Michael Riches tabled the report on his review into the Institute to NT Parliament on February 1, which made 27 recommendations. The review was about general education for the organisation, and other public organisations, and was not meant “to punish or embarrass the Institute”, Mr Riches said.

He did not raise any specific wrongdoing or improper conduct he may have found while undertaking his review of Batchelor, which ran for up to a year, and which he conducted with the help of Bentleys Advisory consultants.

Mr Riches wrote there were “some irregularities…identified in respect of the management of the Institute’s assets”.

“Asset logs did not appear to be properly maintained and information was missing in respect of certain assets,” he wrote.

“A number of assets, including artworks, had been recorded as missing. Mobile telephones were still recorded against staff who were no longer employed in the Institute.”

In his report, Mr Riches’ response was to recommend that the “Institute’s asset management register ought to be reviewed to ensure accuracy and completeness”.

That was all he wrote about the art in his report.

The NT Independent had previously reported on a report written for the Chief Minister’s office in 2019, by a whistleblower with knowledge of the internal workings at the troubled institute.

It detailed 33 serious issues, including allegations that fraudulent qualifications paid for by governments were being handed out to staff, alleged rampant bullying and nepotism by some of the executives, executive contracts not being valid, and that the institute was considered by the Australian Skills Quality Authority of being at “high risk” of not meeting its national training accreditation obligations.

There were also allegations of stolen equipment, claims the institute was spending more money on executives than instructors, employed unqualified staff and that it could not provide student numbers per qualification awarded.

The whistleblower had told the NT Independent that Batchelor Institute had a lot of art, some on display, with the rest stored on the Batchelor and Alice Springs campuses, much of which was created by students which was either donated or left behind when they returned to communities.

They said some of the art had been stolen over time, with one well-known staff member being alleged to have stolen some of the art, but nothing had been done about it. The NT Independent has chosen not to name the person.

“They had a stack of it down there. There were some remarkable pieces stored both at Batchelor and Alice Springs,” they said.

“Some paints, dot painting, wood carvings, and it belongs to the students not to Batchelor.”

In response to the allegations of theft, Mr Riches said: “The review report speaks for itself. I do not otherwise comment on matters that may or may not be the subject of other action.”

Mr Riches was asked what Batchelor Institute had told his office about what had happened to the art, what ICAC had done to investigate what happened, and if his office had referred the matter to another agency to investigate.

The NT Independent put questions about the allegedly stolen art to the Institute in October, but did not receive a response.

Under the ICAC Act 2017, the ICAC is not required to include in a report any information that may prejudice a current or future investigation, prosecution or disciplinary action. Mr Riches has previously told the NT Independent he would not say if he was conducting a further investigation into Batchelor Institute.

ICAC announced the review into Batchelor in September 2021, in response to questions from the NT Independent about the existence of a report sources said was produced after an investigation the previous commissioner instigated. Two different, but very similar, emails detailing the review were sent by ICAC and Batchelor to the NT Independent, just minutes apart at the time.

The whistleblower’s report that outlined credible allegations of ongoing fraud and misconduct at Batchelor Institute was given to then-chief minister Michael Gunner’s office in late 2019 – after it was requested by a senior ministerial advisor – but it appears the office took no further action.