NSW Police bugging scandal: Commissioner Andrew Scipione denies leaking information about Nick Kaldas to the media

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has fronted a state parliament inquiry to deny leaking sensitive information about his deputy Nick Kaldas to the media.

Emblems Inquiry

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has fronted a state parliament inquiry to deny leaking sensitive information about his deputy to the media.

Mr Scipione says he met with NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour in December and Mr Barbour told him that Deputy NSW Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas could face criminal charges in relation to the ombudsman’s probe into a decade-old police bugging scandal.

Police Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas leaving the inquiry earlier this year. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“The ombudsman indicated that he’d referred a matter to the DPP, and it was in relation to Deputy Commissioner Kaldas,” Mr Scipione told the upper house inquiry.

“Let me assure you, I haven’t disclosed details of my conversation with the ombudsman with any other person.”

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A Fairfax Media report on April 17 reported that Mr Kaldas — long tipped as a contender for the top job — had been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for the consideration of charges, citing comments from a senior NSW police official.

NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour is set to retire within days. Picture: Supplied

Mr Scipione was due to retire this year, but one week after the news on the DPP referral appeared, NSW Premier Mike Baird announced that Mr Scipione’s term had been extended.

“There has been an ongoing campaign that has been difficult to manage now for many, many years. This was just the latest instalment,” Mr Scipione said on Friday.

The commissioner agreed that he wanted Mr Barbour’s Operation Prospect probe resolved, “the sooner the better”.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione at the Emblems Inquiry at NSW Parliament House this morning. Picture: Rohan Kelly

And he said the fact Mr Barbour was due to retire within days and would be forced to hand the unfinished investigation over to a new ombudsman would “potentially” prove to be a new source of controversy that could damage the force.

“I assumed and thought that we would have this matter resolved by June,” he said.

But he stopped short of expressing frustration over the fact that Prospect has now been running for two-and-a-half years and is still months from completion.