CCC chief Alan MacSporran grilled over Logan council fraud charges

The head of the state’s crime watchdog has told a Parliamentary Committee he did not read all of the evidence before endorsing fraud charges against eight Logan City councillors.

The head of the state’s crime watchdog has told a Parliamentary Committee he did not read all of the evidence before endorsing fraud charges to be laid against eight Logan City councillors.

Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission chairman Alan MacSporran denied any wrongdoing in relation to the charging of the eight councillors and said it was not his role.

He told the daylong Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee hearing that the charges were laid by police officer Detective Sergeant Andrew Francis, who had been given all the evidence from the CCC.

The hearing was called after 35 submissions were lodged with the PCCC, including information from the Local Government Assocition of Queensland.

LQAQ chief Greg Hallam; former Logan CEO Sharon Kelsey; CCC chair Alan MacSporran.

The councillors, including ex-mayor Luke Smith, were charged with fraud in 2019 after voting to sack Logan’s former chief executive, Sharon Kelsey, a whistleblower who gave information to the CCC against Mr Smith.

The fraud charges were dropped in April this year, a month before the PCCC launched the investigation into the long-running Logan council saga.

Mr MacSporran told the first day of a public hearing into the matter that he had assessed all evidence brought to him and believed the charges were founded.

However, under intense examination by QC Jonathan Horton, Mr MacSporran said he had not considered evidence from the eight councillors, which had been submitted to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

He told the committee he had not reviewed statements from the eight councillors or “weighed up” the consequences of them being charged with fraud.

During the hearing, Mr MacSporran also took a swipe at Local Government Association Queensland CEO Greg Hallam.

He said he received a “highly irregular, abusive, bullying and disgraceful phone call” from Mr Hallam after he had sent a letter to the Logan Council telling them of the dangers of acting against a CEO who had turned whistleblower.

Mr MacSporran said Mr Hallam had labelled it a “head banging” call in a phone conversation intercepted by the CCC with Luke Smith.

“I was absolutely astounded. I thought I had a reasonably good relationship with Greg Hallam,” Mr MacSporran said.

“I was shocked frankly, as he had been to lunch with me and he had joined with me, very helpfully, to give a joint press conference at the CCC premises before the 2016 election cycle.”

He said Mr Hallam had not complained when he wrote a letter “almost identical” to the one sent to Logan to deal with the Fraser Coast Council CEO in 2016.

The seven LoganCity Councillors, above; and the former mayor Luke Smith and the former CEO Sharon Kelsey.

The grilling also led to Mr MacSporran admitting his note taking at many meetings was inadequate and his “technical incompetence” had meant he had not had the opportunity to review all the documents.

There were gasps from the gallery when Mr Horton revealed Ms Kelsey lodged her public interest disclosure with the CCC after the eight councillors had expressed concerns about her performance.

Mr Horton said the timing of Ms Kelsey’s public information disclosure was “fundamental” to the laying of charges against the councillors who expressed concern about her performance.

But Mr MacSporran said he had acted after feeling sympathy for the sacked CEO, who was his star witness in a misconduct investigation and said the way she had been treated was “an outrage” and a “very powerful deterrent” to whistleblowers.

CCC chairman Alan MacSporran was grilled at the PCCC hearing on Tuesday.

“It was our decision to assist Ms Kelsey as much as we could without compromising our parallel and more important corrupt conduct investigation,” Mr MacSporran said.

The hearing, which was attended by four of the former Logan councillors, also heard his decision to help Ms Kelsey in her public information disclosure had led to a chain of events.

They included the CCC delivering, and then days later taking back, documents from Logan City Council.

Ms Kelsey had requested the documents as part of her QIRC civil case she had brought against the council, the former mayor and the seven councillors, which she lost.

“You would not have to be a rocket scientist when you know that the CCC is investigating corrupt conduct using its coercive powers to seize evidence, to understand that there would be relevant documents that might have assisted Ms Kelsey in her QIRC action,” Mr MacSporran said.

Mr MacSporran, who has refused to step down during the inquiry, also said he had not had enough time to review all documents before Tuesday’s hearing as he was “busy running the commission”.

He will be questioned again before his deputy, senior executive officer of corruption Paul Alsbury is in the hot seat.

Paul Alsbury will be questioned by the PCCC tomorrow.

Originally published as CCC chief Alan MacSporran grilled over Logan council fraud charges