Western Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) has formed an opinion of serious misconduct against former Murdoch University vice chancellor Richard Higgott.

It found Professor Higgott schemed to have his friend appointed to a crucial university post and accessed adult material online from his university computer.

The commission began receiving anonymous complaints about Professor Richard Higgott within six months of his appointment as Murdoch vice chancellor in August 2011.

The complaints alleged a series of breaches of university policy and conflicts of interest in the appointment of the deputy vice-chancellor education (DVCE) and deputy vice chancellor professional services (DVCPS).

The CCC investigation found Professor Higgott, in his role as chairman of the DVCE selection committee, actively deceived the other members of the panel, by secretly whittling down the field of 12 candidates to his preferred and eventual appointment Professor Margaret Capling.

Professor Higgott and Professor Capling held secret meetings about the DVCE role, where they tailored the job description to suit Professor Capling's attributes and experience.

Investigations subsequently uncovered personal communications between the two professors including such terms of endearment as "My dearest Higgy", "Your Higginess", and "Capling my dear".

Professor Higgott was found to have breached Murdoch's selection process by failing to disclose a long-held personal relationship with Professor Capling. Had he disclosed that relationship it would likely have precluded him from heading up the panel, the report found.

Adult material accessed online

The CCC also examined the appointment and subsequent termination of DVCPS Jonathan Baldwin in 2013, and found Professor Higgott misled Murdoch's chancellor David Flanagan.

Professor Higgott had begun communicating with Mr Baldwin in secret about a possible appointment as early as 2011, but the relationship between the two deteriorated rapidly after his January 2013 appointment.

Mr Baldwin left the university in November of the same year with a nine-month severance package, and his departure and severance were negotiated without Mr Flanagan's involvement, against university regulations.

Complaints about Professor Higgott began within six months of his appointment. ( Supplied: Murdoch University )

Professor Higgott was also found to have breached Murdoch's code of conduct by using a university laptop to access adult material online.

Between January of 2012 and September 2014 he access 486 files containing adult material, and tried to hide the fact by installing hard drive scrubbing software on the computer, which failed to delete the evidence of his actions.

In his submission to the CCC, Professor Higgott admitted he had done the wrong thing.

"I put my hand up, I accessed adult sites; mistakes I know," he said.

"I can't do anything other than plead stupidity.

"I downloaded a scrubber. I didn't know that it was not allowed, to clean your computer, but the reasons I was doing it are obvious."

There is no suggestion the material accessed by Professor Higgott contained any illegal material, but the CCC concluded the conduct was a breach of trust.

It argued Professor Higgott would be unable to fairly exercise discipline over staff or students accused of acting in a similar manner.

Other issues of concern involving Professor Higgott, but outside the scope of the CCC report, included the Professor's use of university credit cards, and the destruction of documents relevant to the investigation.

Professor Higgott resigned from the vice chancellor role in October 2014.

The CCC noted its opinions of serious misconduct against Professor Higgott did not carry any legal consequence, but said they were likely to cause reputational and professional damage.

Murdoch University vice chancellor Eeva Leinonen said the university had reviewed its policies in the wake of Professor Higgott's case "to ensure our risk governance policies and practices comply with best practice".