Anti-corruption chief quits after investigation into ‘inappropriate behaviour’ allegations

After spending a year on paid leave, a Northern Territory anti-corruption commissioner has defected from his role after the completion of an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour in his office.

Former NT anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches has spent close to a year on paid leave since mid-2024, receiving his almost half-a-million-dollar salary as a probe into allegations surrounding “inappropriate behaviour” in his office was undertaken.

After a year-long investigation carried out by the Commissioner for Public Employment concluded, Riches promptly handed in his resignation to the NT administrator.

In a statement, NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro announced the termination of the investigation, claiming that inspector Bruce McClintock SC had decided “it is no longer in the public interest and is an unnecessary expenditure of territory resources”.

“Today (13 May), the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, Michael Riches, resigned, which was accepted by the administrator with effect this Thursday, 15 May 2025,” Finocchiaro said.

“As a result of the inspector of the ICAC’s investigation concluding, I have today requested the Commissioner for Public Employment necessitate sufficient redaction to allow for privacy and confidentiality concerns to be allayed and for the confidential report to be published on the OCPE’s website.”

As reported by NT News, Finocchiaro touched on how the drawn-out process has been frustrating for the community.

“As a new government, we share the community’s frustrations regarding the length of time and costs in which this whole process has taken … The CLP (Country Liberal Party) confirms it is committed to the ICAC as evidenced by today’s budget of $6.6 million for the agency in 2025-26,” Finocchiaro said.

According to the NT Independent, McClintock had previously investigated Riches for “corrupt conduct” based on domestic violence allegations, which claimed that he attempted to pay off his wife with $20,000 for her to drop a domestic violence order application made back in May 2023.

McClintock cleared Riches of the “corrupt conduct”; however, it was later revealed that there had been correspondence between both McClintock and Riches via a “secret email”, with the latter asking if he should resign when the domestic violence allegations were first raised against him.

NT Independent claimed that the email seeking advice from McClintock was sent only days prior to the alleged proposal to buy off his wife’s domestic violence legal.

McClintock’s report into the office allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” will be made available on the OCPE’s website once confidentiality is ensured. Riches has maintained that no wrongdoing was carried out on his behalf regarding the office allegations and has previously labelled the allegations surrounding the domestic violence as “false” and “defamatory”, according to The Australian.