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Big CenITex pay packets continue

Controversial CenITex executive Thana Velummylum has again entered into a contract with the Victorian shared services agency for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Written by Suzanne Tindal, Contributor

Controversial CenITex executive Thana Velummylum has again entered into a contract with the Victorian shared services agency for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

His newest contract has recently been released on the Victorian tender site. For the two years from 1 August 2009 to 1 August 2011, his company Pharma Insight will receive $900,000: a step down in pay from his last pay packet, but also a longer commitment.

The public eye had already been trained on the executive because of his previous large pay packets. For the year 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2009, Velummylum was paid $493,680 for a year's work as CenITex's chief of operations. Prior to that his company (under a different trading name) held a contract worth $215,620 for five and a half months' work implementing the agency's IT service delivery model.

The amount he earned obtained some scrutiny by Victorian Shadow Information Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips in state budget estimates hearings earlier in the year. Rich-Phillips said that senior positions such as chief of operations shouldn't be filled by very highly paid contractors.

After these events, Velummylum changed his role at CenITex to become the transformation manager for the agency's Efficient Technology Services program, which creates the common ICT services used to supply shared services to agencies' needs.

The dates and amount for the chief operations contract listed in the Victorian tender site also seem to have been altered since June, reducing to $457,765 for the new period of 4 August 2008 to 31 July 2009. The altered dates would mean that his first two contracts overlap by a month.

Taking the altered amounts into account, the new contract will bring Velummylum's payment for services to CenITex to just over $1.5 million.

CenITex had at the time of writing not commented on the appropriateness of the payment or Velummylum's role change.

CenITex advertised recently for a new chief operating officer to fill the position Velummylum left. It also recently signed a deal with BMC software for service management. The value of this four-year contract has now been released as $4,847,204.

CenITex currently provides services to the Victorian Departments of Transport, Planning and Community Development, Premier and Cabinet, Primary Industries, Sustainability and Environment as well as Treasury and Finance. By 2012, it hopes to also supply services to the Departments of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Human Services, Justice, Education and Early Childhood Development as well as to VicRoads, the State Revenue Office, the Environmental Protection Authority and Victoria Police.

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