Iain Roy, Cricket Australia’s head of integrity, who was dispatched to clean up the ball-tampering mess on the Australia tour of South Africa, has been dismissed.

He has been in the position since December 2013, heading a unit specifically created to deal with integrity issues around the game that were raised by a report into CA’s codes, policies and practices.

CA said his sudden departure was not related to match-fixing allegations levelled against two unnamed Test players earlier this week and was by mutual agreement.

The Australian reports that Roy had been keen to move on but was surprised when he was told on Tuesday that his time was up. The lawyer’s position was terminated on the spot and he was given a redundancy payout.

Roy interviewed David Warner, Steve Smith, Darren Lehmann, Cameron Bancroft and Peter Handscomb in South Africa in the wake of the ball-tampering incident. His investigation led to Warner, Smith and Bancroft’s suspensions soon after.

CA yesterday said anti-corruption officer Sean Carroll was handling the match-fixing allegations, which arose when Roy was on leave.

The organisation is being restructured and is running a cost-cutting drive to find $20 million in savings, which has seen a number of staff members’ positions been made redundant in recent weeks.

CA is currently in the midst of two reviews: a wider cultural assessment being undertaken by The Ethics Centre, and a more focused review tackling the behaviour of the men’s national team.

Roy’s removal has only added to the appearance of an uncertain picture for the organisation, and lent weight to queries over whether the reviews are of any genuine significance.