The most senior New South Wales (NSW) public servant, Department of Premier and Cabinet Secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter, said he is considering firing the person responsible for appointing a former deputy premier, to a lucrative trade job in New York, reports The Guardian.

Earlier this year, Amy Brown, NSW Department of Enterprise, Investment & Trade and former CEO of Investment NSW, handed John Barilaro, the former deputy premier of NSW, a lucrative trade job in New York. NGS Global, an executive search firm, had been told by Brown to halt the search for the trade job a day before Barilaro resigned from the post. Asking the executive search firm to “keep this confidential”, Brown wrote that Investment NSW had “confirmed instructions” to convert trade commissioner positions to “ministerial appointments”.

Coutts-Trotter, told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday that he had formed the “preliminary view” that Amy Brown had “not satisfactorily performed” her role during the process that led to Barilaro’s appointment to the job. His view was based on the findings of a report by former public service commissioner, Graeme Head, which found Brown had not acted “fully in keeping” with the code of ethics governing NSW public servants during the process of hiring Barilaro.

The report said Brown had provided an “incomplete and hence misleading picture” of the first hiring process, which led to former public servant Jenny West being given the role, prior to Barilaro’s appointment. Investment NSW’s later decided not to hire West but did not provide a reason for its decision. Brown is entitled to make a submission responding to Coutts-Trotter’s preliminary view.

The selection process was managed by NGS Global, an executive search firm which has more than 30 offices across the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East.

Managing Partner at NGS Global, Dr Marianne Broadbent, told a NSW parliamentary inquiry in August that a selection panel had already settled on a candidate for the job when she was instructed by the former Treasury secretary Mike Pratt to “keep things open”. A series of other suitable candidates were then screened and identified but Barilaro was eventually awarded the job even though he was not the first ranked candidate. As the scandal unfolded, Barilaro subsequently resigned from the new appointment.

The controversial appointment was referred to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption following which, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, Stuart Ayres, resigned from his ministerial positions due to his personal involvement in the appointment.

John Barilaro has also been charged with assault and malicious damage following an alleged altercation with a TV camera operator in July.