Utegate

Utegate (also known as the OzCar affair) refers to a 2009 controversy in Australian federal politics, revolving around allegations made by then Federal Leader of the Opposition and Liberal leader, Malcolm Turnbull, that the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and/or the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, had acted improperly on behalf of a Queensland car dealer who was seeking financial assistance from a government agency called OzCar, and that they had misled Parliament. Central to this claim was evidence by Treasury official Godwin Grech before a Senate inquiry in June 2009 that a Prime Ministerial adviser had emailed him asking for preferential treatment for the dealer. When the email's text became known, the Prime Minister labelled the email a forgery, and a subsequent police investigation confirmed that the email was never sent. On 4 August 2009, Grech admitted to forging the email.[1] The Auditor-General was also ordered to conduct an investigation. It found no evidence of corruption by the Prime Minister or the Treasurer or their respective offices,[2] but did make adverse findings against Grech, and highlighted numerous administrative failings in the Treasury.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference age_4aug was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Schubert, Misha (4 August 2009). "Rudd, Swan cleared over OzCar affair". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 23 March 2010.