Investigators meeting with NRL players on cocaine charges

QUEENSLAND'S Crime and Corruption Commission investigators have started face-to-face meetings with some of the footballers facing cocaine charges

Former Brisbane Broncos star Karmichael Hunt is facing charges for dealing cocaine. Picture: Chris Hydegetty IMAGES

QUEENSLAND'S Crime and Corruption Commission investigators have started face-to-face meetings with some of the footballers facing cocaine charges as intrigue continues to grow around which domino may be the next to fall in the unfolding scandal.

The CCC suggested on Tuesday that more arrests could be made by the end of this week or early next week, a statement that has set the rumour mill into overdrive and seen betting markets closed on the Brisbane Broncos v South Sydney NRL opener next Thursday.

In the meantime, Fairfax Media understands at least three of the accused have been questioned in the Commission's "Star Chamber", a forum that commands extraordinary powers over witnesses outside that of a police interview.

In Queensland, the Crime Commission is the only organisation that can conduct "coercive" hearings. These interviews dispense with the usual right to silence for fear of self-incrimination. The CCC can also demand the handover of phone or financial records.

On its website, the CCC says it uses "its coercive hearings power, not only in its own investigations, but also when police request assistance with serious crime investigations that cannot be advanced using traditional policing powers".

Read more at Brisbane Times

Originally published as Investigators meeting with NRL players on cocaine charges