Public servant investigated over $30m Leppington Triangle sale says auditor general was ‘unreasonable’

The commonwealth public servant investigated by police over the Leppington Triangle sale has rejected a finding the $30m price tag was inflated, accusing the auditor general of "unreasonable conduct [that] may constitute negligence".

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, the official accused the auditor of failing to "exercise a reasonable degree of care and diligence" through alleged errors about the property's categorisation as agricultural land and its market value.

In September, the Australian National Audit Office found that in mid-2018 taxpayers paid 10 times too much for land owned by billionaire dairy farmers to build a second runway at western Sydney airport after 2050.

The audit was triggered by the fact that 11 months after the $30m purchase, the land was revalued at just $3.1m.

The ANAO referred the sale to police, who concluded in September that there was "no evidence" of criminal conduct.

In a submission dated 30 December 2021, uploaded before the ANAO's evidence to Senate estimates, the public servant hit back at the auditor general for having "mistakenly placed the Leppington Triangle in an agriculture precinct, which would mistakenly infer a lower value for the property".

The official, whose name is withheld, claimed the ANAO in later appearances before two hearings gave "misleading or misstated" answers that "likely represent bad faith" and "raise serious questions" about whether parliament was misled.