The head of NSW ICAC says he does not want the corruption court used for political gain. 

NSW ICAC chief commissioner John Hatzistergos has issued his first annual report, in which he reminds political candidates to “act properly” when referring matters to ICAC.

“Investigations into allegations of corrupt conduct are rarely if ever assisted by premature publicity,” Mr Hatzistergos said.

“It is inappropriate to weaponise a referral to the commission for attention or political advantage. All accusations of corruption are extremely serious and should not be made lightly.”

Mr Hatzistergos was appointed as commissioner in June this year.

“Responsibility is never to be taken lightly, and as I stand at the beginning of the next five years, I look forward to working with commissioners [Helen] Murrell and [Paul] Lakatos, the commission’s executive and staff to continue and build on the important work that the commission has undertaken over the past 33 years to serve the state of NSW and its people,” he said.

NSW ICAC’s annual report for 2021-22 shows it missed its 80 per cent target for investigation reports furnished to parliament.

The commission made just three investigation reports within the reporting period - Operation Lancer (which took 80 days to furnish a report), Operation Aero (396 days), and Operation Ember (739 days).

The report shows local government is the most complained-about sector, being the subject of 40 per cent of all complaints.

Public complaints about NSW public officials and the NSW police dropped to 3 per cent from 10 per cent in the past year.

For allegations from NSW public sector employees, custodial services received the highest number of allegations (219, 26 per cent), followed by health (187, 22 per cent), education (139, 16 per cent), local government (137, 16 per cent), and emergency services (49, 6 per cent).