Report recommends Royal Commission into Crime and Corruption Commission

The state’s corruption watchdog has resisted calls for its chairman to stand down after a report recommended a royal commission be launched.

The state’s corruption watchdog has resisted calls for its chairman to stand down in the wake of damning findings by a parliamentary committee.

The bombshell report recommended a royal commission be launched into the Crime and Corruption Commission after finding it operated outside the limits of its powers and failed to act independently and impartially in charging Logan councillors with fraud.

The damning parliamentary crime and corruption committee report, released by chair Jon Krause, found the CCC had failed in the role entrusted to it by Parliament.

Mr Krause said the committee recommended a commission of inquiry be launched to review the structure and powers of the CCC.

The release of the report prompted Local Government Association of Queensland president Mark Jamieson to call for CCC chairman Alan MacSporran to stand down to ensure public trust in the watchdog was maintained.

The LGAQ, which initiated the committee inquiry, also called for a public apology and compensation to the former Logan councillors wrongly charged by the CCC.

The CCC said this afternoon it would consider the report and its recommendations, but insisted Mr MacSporran would continue to lead the CCC.

It said Mr MacSporran and the watchdog’s leadership team looked forward to an ongoing and productive relationship with the PCCC, as the CCC continued to independently combat major crime and reduce corruption for the benefit of the Queensland community.

The CCC said it did have concerns about how some aspects of the inquiry were conducted.

CCC chairman Alan MacSporran. File picture

Mr Krause recommended the powers of Mr MacSporran be investigated and curbed following the watchdog’s bungled handling of the Logan inquiry.

He said the committee’s investigation found the CCC’s charging of Logan councillors with fraud was likely motivated by a desire to assist the dismissal case of CEO Sharon Kelsey.

He said the CCC “acted improperly” by charging the councillors with fraud and “failed in its duty to act at all times independently and impartially”.

He said the investigations “painted a picture of remarkable dealings between the CCC and a private firm of lawyers acting for Ms Kelsey”.

Mr Krause said Mr MacSporran “did not ensure the CCC acted independently and impartially”.

The committee recommended consideration given for the CCC to be forced to obtain independent advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions before laying charges.

Counsel Assisting the Inquiry in October recommended the parliament consider terminating Mr MacSporran’s tenure as Chair.

The PCCC report laid out 14 “very serious findings” about the CCC and its actions.

“The committee finds that the CCC has exceeded the specific limits on its powers under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 in the Logan City Council matter and the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (in regards to assistance within the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission process), and further finds that the CCC Chairperson did not ensure the CCC acted independently and impartially,” the report said.

Former Logan council CEO Sharon Kelsey. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

“This inquiry was about that Logan matter. However, the findings and recommendations of the committee should be seen as the starting point to ensuring that events about which the committee makes serious findings are never repeated.”

The committee was particularly damning in how the CCC acted in assisting whistleblower and sacked Logan City Council chief executive Sharon Kelsey in her Queensland Industrial Relations Commission case that sought to have her reinstated in the job.

The committee criticised the CCC’s actions, including in sharing documents it had obtained under compulsion, and said that breached its duty to act independently and impartially under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001.

It found the material prepared for the consideration of commencing criminal proceedings against the seven councillors and further proceedings against the mayor for fraud in respect to Ms Kelsey were “inadequate”.

“The committee finds that the discretion to charge the seven Logan City Councillors and Mayor with fraud was affected by a desire to assist Ms Kelsey,” the report reads.

“ … The committee finds that as Chairperson, Mr Alan MacSporran QC, did not ensure that the Crime and Corruption Commission acted, at all times relevant to the matters the subject of the inquiry resolution, independently and impartially.”

“That failing is serious and reflects poorly on the Crime and Corruption Commission.”

The committee made six recommendations, but rejected a submission by the Council Assisting that they recommend the removal of Mr MacSporran.

Several of them relate to wanting the powers of the CCC reviewed, with the possibility of curbing them.

That included consideration of the CCC’s powers to disseminate information obtained by use of their extraordinary powers and whether the CCC should be required to seek the recommendation of the Director of Public Prosecutions or a senior independent legal adviser before laying serious criminal charges.

It also recommended “a review of the CCC’s structure in regards to its investigatory and charging functions, and the role of seconded police officers at the CCC, as a Commission of Inquiry or similar, to be headed by senior counsel of sufficient standing to consider this structural basis of the CCC that has its roots in the Fitzgerald inquiry”.

The committee also asked the government to review protections afforded to whistleblowers, including the roles of the CCC and others relating to whistleblowers.

Local Government Association of Queensland President Mark Jamieson. File picture

Mr Jamieson said the state government should take swift action to overhaul the structure and senior ranks of the corruption watchdog to “restore its reputation and ensure this never happens again”.

“The findings of the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee’s report into the charging of the former Logan councillors is sobering reading for all Queenslanders,” he said.

“The CCC acted outside the laws that govern it. The CCC charged elected officials without taking all evidence into account. It charged elected officials out of a desire to assist a third party. This is unacceptable. It is a serious blight on the integrity agency and change must start now and at the top.”

Mr Jamieson said the former councillors affected deserved adequate recompense.

“As a result of the CCC’s actions, seven people who had dedicated their lives to public service had their careers cut short in an instant.

“Their reputations were irreparably damaged and their lives were turned upside down. A duly elected council was also dismissed.”

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the government took the PCCC’s recommendations very seriously and would consider them before a response.

“They’ve now made these recommendations and we’ll consider them and I do want to say to the people of Queensland, you can have confidence in your corruption body,” she said.

Ms Fentiman said there were “many concerning parts to how the CCC conducted its investigation” but she hadn’t read the document yet.

Asked whether Mr MacSporran should consider his future in light of the damning findings, she said that was a matter for him.