’Totally improper’: Demand for CCC to lose ‘heavy-handed’ powers

The CCC’s arrest of a former mayor during dinner with his family has prompted calls for Tuesday’s Fitzgerald review to make major reforms.

The Crime and Corruption Commission should be stripped of its ability to direct arrests and lay charges under sweeping reforms to end its heavy-handed tactics, according to submissions made to the Fitzgerald inquiry.

Eminent corruption-buster Tony Fitzgerald and retired Supreme Court judge Alan Wilson are on Tuesday set to hand down their long-awaited review into the CCC, which is tipped to include a list of suggested reforms.

While the more than 87 submissions are yet to be publicly released, The Courier-Mail understands some include a push for the watchdog to be stripped of its arrest powers.

One submission lodged and signed by 11 sacked Ipswich councillors calls for the CCC to lose its ability to lay charges, slamming the “back door” use of seconded police officers to make arrests.

Commission of Inquiry chair Tony Fitzgerald with former Bundamba MP Jo-Ann Miller. Picture: File

The submission cites the case of former mayor Andrew Antoniolli, who was arrested by CCC officers while having dinner with his family over a breach-of-bail offence that occurred four days earlier.

It noted Mr Antoniolli was arrested for the offence about 6pm, when no magistrates were available, forcing the fallen mayor to spend the night at the Ipswich watch house.

The Ipswich councillors’ submission argues the CCC officers used their discretionary arrest powers in a “totally high-handed, improper and completely unnecessary manner”.

“Given the very minor nature of the alleged breach, which must have been obvious to the arresting CCC officers, this was clearly an abuse of process as the need to arrest him that night around the family dinner table was not proportionate to his alleged wrongdoing,” the submission read.

The 11 Ipswich councillors were later sacked through special state legislation following the ultimately unsuccessful prosecution of then mayor Antoniolli.

Retired Supreme Court judge Alan Wilson.

A spokesman for the CCC declined to comment on the calls for its powers to be limited.

However, calls to curb the corruption watchdog’s extraordinary powers were first raised by a

parliamentary committee in December, which recommended the organisation consult with the Director of Public Prosecutions or an independent senior legal adviser before laying charges.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in January announced the $5.4m Commission of Inquiry following a Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee report that found the corruption watchdog acted outside the limits of its powers and “failed to act independently and impartially”.

Ms Palaszczuk on Monday declared she was “looking forward” to receiving Mr Fitzgerald’s report.

A spokeswoman for the Commission of Inquiry said the report would be provided to the Premier and Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman on Tuesday and the release of the report “is a matter for the Queensland Government”.