Ben Aulich case: Police drop all charges against Canberra lawyer Bridie Harders

Police have dropped all charges against one of two lawyers they accused of running an elaborate money laundering operation for an undercover cop posing as an organised crime figure.

Police have dropped all charges against one of the two Canberra lawyers they accused of running an elaborate money laundering operation for an undercover cop posing as an organised crime figure.

In the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday, crown prosecutor Skye Jerome withdrew all remaining charges against lawyer Bridie Harders.

She was released from bail and police will be ordered to cover some of her legal costs.

Ms Harders was arrested in December and charged with criminal conspiracy, money laundering and dealing in the proceeds of crime, and police accused her of “facilitating organised crime”.

Supplied Editorial Ben Aulich

Ms Harders’s partner at Canberra law firm Aulich Legal, Ben Aulich, is still facing criminal conspiracy and proceeds of crime charges.

The court on Monday heard police have finished compiling the bulk of the evidence against him and will soon deliver a small number of documents stemming from phone taps and a raid on the Aulich offices late last year.

Mr Aulich’s lawyer, Peter Woodhouse, said the evidence against his client was “voluminous” and asked for another month to work through it. The case would likely be ready to “progress” next month, Mr Woodhouse said.

The courts have previously heard much of the evidence is of secretly recorded conversations between Mr Aulich and the undercover cop, who went by the name “Alex Terosian”.

The undercover cop, posing as a gangster, was a client of the firm.

Ben Aulich (centre) arrives at the Canberra watch house with detectives, following his arrest in relation to alleged money laundering. Picture: Craig Dunlop

Mr Woodhouse said he was yet to be told precisely how Mr Aulich is alleged to have broken the law, but Ms Jerome said she would detail that once prosecutors had finished wading through the evidence from the eight month police operation.

Mr Aulich has denied any wrongdoing and is expected to take the case to trial.

A third co-accused, accountant Michael Papandrea, will return to court later this month.

Mr Aulich returns to court in May.