Former Victorian corruption watchdog boss Robert Redlich has launched a broadside on Daniel Andrews, suggesting the premier sought to conceal the nature of findings in a report.

In April, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission  found the Andrews government unfairly awarded a $1.2 million contract to a Labor-affiliated union in the lead-up to the 2018 state election.

Mr Andrews branded the Operation Daintree report “educational” and stressed there were no corruption findings against anyone.

Mr Redlich, whose five-year term as IBAC commissioner ended late last year, said the public was not served well by Mr Andrews seeking to “conceal and disguise” the watchdog’s findings.

“It was quite disingenuous to have said at length, repeatedly, that there were no findings,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Tuesday.

“What’s important is the government of the day have to acknowledge that there will inevitably be institutional failings, and failings in the way in which government operates.

“There shouldn’t be a need to conceal and mislead as to the significance of findings when those failings are exposed.”

His comments reiterated the points he made when appearing before parliament’s Integrity and Oversight Committee on Monday.

Mr Redlich called for IBAC to have wider powers, including being able to make findings of corruption even when it does not constitute a criminal offence.

But Labor committee members instead focused their line of questioning on unrelated matters, such as whether Mr Redlich bullied any of his staff, and his termination payment.

Mr Redlich said the questions were a lost opportunity to talk about integrity reforms.

“I rather thought that was a filibuster, that they were trying to waste time,” he said.

Mr Redlich wrote to parliament’s speaker and president in December with concerns that partisan politics had permeated the Labor-majority committee.

He alleged a consultancy hired to audit the watchdog was directed by Labor committee members to “find dirt on IBAC”.

The threat of a parliamentary inquiry into the accusations led to Labor agreeing to no longer have a government chair or majority on the committee.

Mr Redlich used his appearance before the committee to double down on the claims.

Upper house Labor MP Harriet Shing, who chaired the committee until her elevation to cabinet last year, refused to be drawn the former commissioner’s concerns.

“I’m not here to run a commentary on comments made by Mr Redlich as a private citizen,” she told reporters.

Government minister Danny Pearson has also written to the Victorian Electoral Commission to ask it to examine a donations “loophole” detailed on IBAC’s Operation Sandon report.

The report into Casey council and developer John Woodman outlines a discussion about the loophole between Mr Woodman and the executive director of the Liberals’ nominated fundraising entity, Enterprise Victoria.

Mr Pearson said it may have breached the Electoral Act because the intercepted phone call conversation occurred in February 2019, after strengthened donation laws came into effect in Victoria.

Mr Woodman donated more than $470,000 to the Labor and Liberal parties between 2010 and 2019 to access state decision-makers while pursuing planning scheme changes.

IBAC said both major parties agreed to accept membership payments in instalments from different accounts or entities to allow Mr Woodman not to federally declare the contributions.

The Victorian opposition has been contacted for comment.