Water employee lied on bribe, ICAC told

A Sydney Water inspector took bribes from contractors after raising problems with their work, the corruption watchdog has heard.

Kenneth John Buckley approved the work after builders paid him bribes of between $50 and $100, an inquiry into "systemic corruption" at Sydney Water was told.

Giving evidence on Monday, Mr Buckley admitted pocketing money, including 30 payments from the one contractor, Yousef Nasrallah.

"From time to time he offered me money as a gift," Mr Buckley told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), adding that he sometimes received up to four payments a month from different contractors.

Counsel assisting the commission Tony Payne, SC, also alleged that a former employee approved more than $200,000 of unauthorised payments.

Mr Payne said that Sydney Water, which employs over 3150 staff, allowed the corrupt activities to continue, even when the wife of a contractor made a formal complaint about Mr Buckley.

"The inquiry will consider what steps could and should have been taken to deal with what appears to be a culture of systemic corruption," he said in his opening address.

Mr Buckley worked at Sydney Water for 45 years and spent the past 10 years certifying sewerage construction to connect new housing sub-divisions to the sewer network.

On Monday, he denied approving jobs on the basis of bribes.

"I didn't pass work because of the money ... I passed jobs (when the) defect in hand had been rectified," he said, adding that he met contractors a couple of times off-site to receive payments "so other people wouldn't see".

Mr Buckley told the inquiry he accepted payments after approving work but did not solicit bribes before work was completed.

"Just a gift to buy beer," he said about one individual who paid him $100.

But Mr Payne suggested that Mr Buckley repeatedly sought cash payments as bribes to approve work done by Mr Nasrallah and other contractors.

Mr Buckley denied the allegation, saying Mr Nasrallah once offered him $400 to approve a job in Revesby in July 2009.

He said he jokingly countered with $500 but never intended to accept any money.

"I was just seeing what he'd do," Mr Buckley said.

"Like I've said, he offered me 400, I said 500 but then I said 'no'."

The next day he spoke to Mr Nasrallah at the Revesby work site, which was captured in an audio recording during ICAC's investigation.

"What's it up to now?" Mr Nasrallah is heard saying.

"Five hundred," Mr Buckley responded.

ICAC commissioner David Ipp QC questioned Mr Buckley's evidence that his request for $500 the day before had always been a joke.

"Do you say that this transcript (of the conversation) is a transcript of a joke," Mr Ipp asked.

Mr Buckley responded: "No it's not."

"So you weren't telling the truth then, were you?" Mr Ipp asked.

Mr Buckley responded: "I wasn't, no."

"And you knew you weren't telling the truth," Mr Ipp said.

"Yes sir," Mr Buckley said.

He also told the inquiry that if he was paid the $500 he still would have made Mr Nasrallah fix any work that he flagged as substandard.

Mr Buckley was informed before giving evidence that anyone who gives false information to the ICAC could face up to five years in jail.

The inquiry continues.