Ipswich's council has been subject of a wide-ranging Crime and Corruption Commission investigation.Credit:Geoff Marshall/Alamy
“All meetings were scheduled via an unknown mobile messaging application,meetings were conducted off-site and minutes of these minutes were not recorded,” the CCC wrote in its report.
“Meetings were also removed from electronic diaries so personal assistants were not aware meetings were happening.
“It is believed that this was done in an attempt to conceal their activities and correspondence from the CCC.”
An Ipswich City Council spokesman denied any secret meetings were held.
"All meetings in relation to the show cause notice were held on council premises with legal counsel present,"he said.
"No secret messaging apps were used."
The CCC does not name anyone in its report,which found the council had multiple governance failings and policies deliberately designed to avoid public scrutiny,while a “very dominating senior figure” presided over a culture in which subordinates failed to report wrongdoing for fear of reprisals.