A high-ranking Home Affairs Department official has blown the whistle on what he says was corruption infecting the federal government’s offshore detention regime, alleging he was pressured to cover up suspected rorting and graft so Australia could keep using Nauru as a border security outpost.

Home Affairs acting assistant secretary Dr Derek Elias has alleged, in an interview with this masthead and 60 Minutes , that Australian taxpayers paid millions of dollars for nonexistent or unnecessary offshore asylum seeker services as part of a system that “enabled” corruption by Nauruan politicians and Australian companies.

Elias claimed this was done “to make sure that the [Australian offshore immigration] regime that’s set up there is maintained”.

“We created an enabling environment for cor

See Full Page