Parliamentary inquiry into Henry Keogh’s $2.57m payout for wrongful murder conviction
THE controversial $2.57 million payment made to Henry Keogh, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, is set to be scrutinised by a parliamentary inquiry after his “startling admissions”.
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THE controversial $2.57 million payment made to Henry Keogh, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, is set to be scrutinised by a parliamentary inquiry.
Moves are being made to have one of parliament’s most powerful investigative tools, the Budget and Finance Committee, probe the ex-gratia payout process.
The move follows revelations in The Advertiser the payment was made without a formulated claim from Mr Keogh’s lawyers and a government-commissioned legal opinion found taxpayers were not at significant risk from any civil action he may launch.
Opposition spokesman for Transport and Infrastructure Tom Koutsantonis said “startling admissions’’ made by Mr Keogh himself at the weekend had added weight to the need for a full inquiry.
On Saturday, former Attorney-General John Rau told The Advertiserhe did “not recall seeing any advice saying the government was at significant legal risk in the Henry Keogh case’’ while he was in office, while Mr Keogh told The Australian he was unlikely to have taken his case to the civil courts because of the time it would take and “there's no guarantee at the end of that you actually emerge a winner’’.
“Mr Keogh made it quite clear he wasn’t going to take legal action and Attorney-General Vickie Chapman has said she made the ex-gratia payment to minimise legal action,’’ Mr Koutsantonis said.
“I think that raises serious concerns and we will use the Budget and Finance Committee to call every single public servant from Treasury and Crown law involved in this ex-gratia payment to give evidence.
“We would like to know on what basis Ms Chapman made this decision, was it a Cabinet decision or simply a ministerial decision that Cabinet noted. It is an important distinction.’’
Mr Koutsantonis said the legal advice commissioned by the Labor government made it clear the state was not at significant risk from any legal action and the Court of Criminal Appeal recommended Mr Keogh be retried for Anna Jane Cheney’s murder.
“In light of these facts, did Treasury agree with the payment, did Crown law agree with this payment. These are the questions that need to be answered,’’ he said.
“Mr Keogh’s comments show that his advice was that he was at minimal prospect of a payment, it would have been long, arduous, expensive and very risky for him.
“The question then is, why did Ms Chapman make the payment?’’
While Labor holds three of the seven positions on the Budget and Finance Committee, it will need the support of one independent member, either Frank Pangallo or John Darley, to launch the inquiry.
The payout to Mr Keogh has sparked outrage from the family of Ms Cheney. On Saturday a family member told The Advertiser they believed the government must publicly release the legal opinion relied on to justify the payment.
The legal opinion, provided by respected barristers Jonathon Wells QC and Ben Doyle, was commissioned by Mr Rau after he received a letter of demand from Mr Keogh’s lawyers.
The demand was rejected by the former government and Mr Keogh’s lawyers were asked to present a formulated claim — something which did not occur.
On Saturday Ms Chapman again defended the ex-gratia payment and confirmed that only the legal opinion commissioned by the former government and Crown Solicitor’s Office had been used to justify the payout.
Henry Keogh was released from prison in December 2014 after serving two decades behind bars following his conviction for drowning Ms Cheney in her bath in 1994.
His conviction was quashed in 2014 because of flawed forensic evidence and a retrial ordered but Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber QC subsequently dropped the murder charge because key witness — pathologist Dr Colin Manock — was too ill to testify.