Dewar believed $300k UOW tender was tailored for KordaMentha

CFO annotated slides during live tender

Jul 02, 2026

University of Wollongong’s interim Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar began his testimony on Thursday. Image by Google Gemini

Incoming Interim Vice-Chancellor Professor, and KordaMentha partner, John Dewar left a May 2024 conversation believing a $300,000 procurement process at the University of Wollongong was being run “in a way that makes it likely” his consulting firm would win.

The testimony during the afternoon session of the ICAC Operation Scandi inquiry completely reframed earlier evidence, where the university’s own chief financial officer admitted to annotating KordaMentha’s financial documents right in the middle of that very tender process.

Taking the stand on Day 9, Prof Dewar testified he initially proposed that KordaMentha be handed the university’s transformation diagnostic work without a competitive bid. The inquiry heard Chancellor Michael Still insisted a formal procurement process was necessary for probity reasons.

However, Prof Dewar testified he interpreted the Chancellor’s remarks as strong encouragement, emailing his partners that the process was being run to favour them. Furthermore, Prof Dewar admitted Mr Still personally asked him to draft the initial scope of work for the very contract his own firm was about to bid on.

That high-level understanding provides adds to the irregular procurement landscape navigated by the university’s chief financial officer, Matthew Wright, the following month.

CFO ‘annotated’ slides

Mr Wright testified that he served as the probity auditor for the June 2024 enterprise-wide review tender.

But on June 13 - right in the middle of the live tender - Prof Dewar emailed Mr Wright a KordaMentha slide deck analysing the university’s finances. Mr Wright, tasked with safeguarding the tender’s fairness, admitted he annotated the slides and fired them back. However, Mr Wright defended his actions, testifying he “did not make the connection at the time” that this compromised the tender and believed he was simply briefing the incoming chief executive. KordaMentha ultimately won the contract.

The inquiry heard conflict of interest boundaries remained blurred even after the transformation work began. Mr Wright confirmed that while Prof Dewar would step out of program control board meetings when KordaMentha’s scope was formally expanded, he remained in the room to participate in discussions when his firm presented its substantive findings.

Mr Wright also confirmed he knew Mr Still lacked the personal financial delegation to sign off on the $300,000 expenditure. Instead, the governance division pushed it through on the basis that a $2 million “council discretionary fund” had been broadly noted by a sub-committee.

That same fund bankrolled deals with Aspirall Consulting. Mr Wright testified he only learned “with certainty” about a second Aspirall contract recently, following his admission that the firm’s first project - valued at $49,600 but billed at $56,000 - bypassed UOW purchasing policy entirely.

The alleged bypasses extended to human resources, with Mr Wright testifying it was “unusual” for the Chancellor to personally chair a mid-level selection panel. The inquiry heard that after the successful applicant, Dr Stacey Oon, rejected an initial $200,000 offer, Mr Still directly intervened, insisting the offer should not have been made without his approval as chair.

Professor Dewar’s evidence will continue tomorrow.

ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi. All named individuals are the subject of allegations at a public inquiry.