A former senior Education Department official is accused of urging his son to lie to investigators about doing work for a primary school for work he never completed, a corruption hearing has revealed.
The secretly recorded conversation was played today during a public hearing on alleged corruption in the school system.
The former official, Nino Napoli, has been sacked amid the investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.
The recordings captured Mr Napoli in his home coaching his son, Raffaele Napoli, about what to say to investigators.
Raffaele Napoli received payments of $120,000 between 2004 and 2011 from a company called On the Ball Personnel, which sent invoices to several schools. But Raffaele Napoli previously said his father controlled his bank account.
In one audio recording both Nino Napoli and former Essendon North Primary school principal Michael Giulieri can be heard attempting to coach Raffaele on what to say to investigators.
Mr Giulieri and Nino Napoli can be heard telling Raffaele to say that he met with Mr Giulieri to discuss work although those meetings never took place.
Raffaele Napoli told the hearing he had made it clear he didn't want to lie and that he was still angry with his father.
"What my dad was trying to portray was bullshit," he said.
In another recording Raffaele accuses his father of being "delusional" and tells him "don't get angry at me, dad, 'cause I've done nothing wrong".
Nino Napoli is accused of siphoning $2.5 million in public funds that went to him and his associates.
Mr Giulieri is still employed at another state primary school but is currently on leave for an unrelated matter. The Education Department has confirmed Mr Giulieri won't be returning to departmental work until the corruption allegations are investigated fully.
Nino Napoli's son Matthew also appeared as a witness today. He told the hearing he had worked at Maribyrnong Secondary College in the sports department in 2010.
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