Former V/Line chief executive James Pinder has been jailed for two years and eight months after accepting $330,000 in corrupt payments linked to a multimillion-pound cleaning contract in Victoria.
Pinder, 58, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and was sentenced at the County Court of Victoria on Thursday, 3 September 2026. He is expected to face deportation after completing his sentence.
The court heard that Transclean, owned by George Haritos, was awarded a contract worth more than $40 million to clean trains and stations in May 2018. Pinder had failed to declare his friendship with Haritos while serving as V/Line chief executive.
Judge Fiona Todd said Pinder had been paid to “show favour to Transclean”. The benefits included $10,000 in cash left in an envelope in his car and a further $320,000 put towards the purchase of a $2.5 million property in Williamstown.
In a letter to the court, Pinder described the corruption as entirely his own responsibility and apologised to those he had harmed, including the wider community.
“Mr Pinder you spent your working life rising to a position of public trust … and risked it all for personal gain for you and your family,” Judge Todd told him.
Haritos, 71, was sentenced to two years and three months after admitting one count of conspiracy to give secret commissions and two counts of giving secret commissions. His daughters cried in court as the sentence was imposed.
The case also centred on Haritos’s relationship with Peter Bollas, a former Metro Trains officer who received $30,000 in kickbacks. Judge Todd said the payments were made in return for helping Transclean obtain, retain and develop business with Metro Trains.
Bollas was given a three-and-a-half-year community-based order and 300 hours of community service in May 2024 after pleading guilty to receiving a secret commission and assisting investigators.
The court heard that Haritos and Bollas had devised a plan to undermine a rival’s trial of a new cleaning product on trains. The scheme, which was never carried out, involved passing on the location of the test and contaminating carriages with dirty cloths.
Judge Todd described the arrangement involving Pinder, Haritos and Bollas as “tripartite”, saying the three men had worked together to advance their own interests.
“This conduct is corrosive of public trust and the offence of giving secret commissions has a kind of metastatic quality, honest contractors may begin to feel they need to engage in similar conduct,” she said.
The corruption scandal prompted Pinder’s suspension and eventual dismissal in 2020. V/Line also terminated its contract with Transclean and said the alleged conduct was unacceptable.
Three other people connected to Transclean received community-based sentences for their involvement. Haritos’s brother-in-law, Alex Kryitsis, 69, was given a two-year community order with 100 hours of community work.
Steven Kryitsis, 42, received a four-year community corrections order with 250 hours of unpaid work, while Maria Tsakopoulos, 45, was given a three-and-a-half-year order with 200 hours of community work after admitting charges involving secret commissions and the destruction of evidence.
Pinder was seen smiling and shaking hands with Haritos, Kryitsis and others in court before he was taken into custody.
