Nick Kaldas: Judge rejects attempts to block bugging scandal report
A SUPREME Court judge has rejected Nick Kaldas’s attempt to block a bombshell report into the police bugging scandal, meaning the highly anticipated and controversial document may become public today.
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- Former deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas fires off at top cops
- Nick Kaldas: ‘Ombudsman biased against former top cop’
A SUPREME Court judge has rejected Nick Kaldas’s attempt to block a bombshell report into the police bugging scandal — meaning the highly anticipated and controversial document may become public today.
Judge Peter Garling dismissed Mr Kaldas’s attempt to secure a temporary injunction against the ombudsman’s report this morning, saying that while the former deputy police commissioner’s legal arguments held weight, the public interest in tabling the report outweighed those concerns.
The ombudsman had previously outlined plans to table its Operation Prospect investigation into the police bugging scandal at midday today.
Deputy Police Commissioner knew top cops were investigated by anti-corruption unit
It remains unclear if Mr Kaldas’s legal team will file an immediate appeal to the Court of Appeal, potentially preventing the document becoming public today.
The ombudsman’s investigation, which has cost more than $10 million so far and has been running since 2012 is probing internal police bugging operations carried out against a large number of officers, including Mr Kaldas between 1999 and 2001.
The operations, which years later have split the police force at its highest echelons, were carried out by a team of police including current deputy commissioner Catherine Burn.
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione worked in the same unit as Ms Burn. Mr Kaldas retired from the police force in March, after 34 years’s service.
Mr Kaldas’s legal team have previously argued the former top cop be excluded from the document, claiming former ombudsman Bruce Barbour, who conducted the bulk of the investigation, may be viewed as being biased against him.
Mr Barbour is alleged to have met Commissioner Scipione privately and discussed aspects of Operation Prospect with him but “refused” to have similar contact with Mr Kaldas.
Mr Kaldas’s team also claim the report is flawed and the ombudsman was not equipped to carry out the long-running investigation.
However, the Ombudsman’s legal team argued that there is a very strong public interest in publishing the document.
Justice Garling agreed with that view during his ruling on Tuesday morning, noting that the document affects many more people and various functions of the state which the public are entitled to have confidence in.
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