Douglas Drummond calls for special prosecutor to decide cops’ fate over Lawyer X scandal
A corruption busting QC has made an explosive submission to the Lawyer X royal commission, calling for a special prosecutor to determine whether cops should be charged over their use of Nicola Gobbo.
Victoria
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Corruption buster Douglas Drummond has called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate police over the Lawyer X informer crisis.
But Mr Drummond QC, who was the special prosecutor who helped jail corrupt Queensland top cop Terry Lewis, says Victoria Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions should not be used to handle the Gobbo scandal because of their links to government.
And he has also had a swipe at Premier Daniel Andrews relationship with the force, intimating their cosy relationship protected members of his government from being charged over the ‘Red Shirts’ political scandal.
The ‘Red Shirts’ scandal saw Labor misuse $388,000 of taxpayers’ money to part-pay political campaigners during the 2014 state election.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass concluded the scheme - first revealed by the Herald Sun - was an “artifice” and was “wrong”, but police decided against laying charges after a lengthy investigation.
In Mr Drummond’s submission to the Lawyer X royal commission, he urged Lawyer X commissioner Margaret McMurdo to recommend a “properly resourced” special prosecutor be appointed to report directly to parliament on whether charges should be laid against those responsible for using Gobbo.
“Whether police criminally inculpated in the Gobbo scandal are to be properly considered for prosecution cannot be left to the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions,” Mr Drummond QC states in his submission.
“The Royal Commissioner should instead consider recommending in her final report the appointment of a properly resourced special prosecutor.
“The High Court judgment ignited a crisis of public confidence in Victoria Police that was sufficient to cause Premier (Daniel) Andrews to set up this properly empowered Royal Commission into the force’s use of the defence lawyer Gobbo as a police informant,” Mr Drummond states.
“Public confidence is unlikely to be restored if it is left to Victoria Police to investigate whether any of its members or former members, including Chief Commissioners, have committed criminal offences.
“That is what will very likely happen if the Commission leaves it to the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether there are to be any criminal prosecutions.”
The DPP, Kerri Judd QC, has responded to the swipe, saying the prosecution body is independent of both Victoria Police and government.
Ms Judd has previously stated it is not an investigative body and cannot probe the evidence.
But the conundrum remains that no Victorian body believes it is capable investigating whether any crimes have been committed.
Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog IBAC has declared it is too under-resourced to investigate the Lawyer X saga.
And there is a widespread belief Victoria Police is too conflicted to investigate itself given its steadfast belief no individual officer is accountable.
Mr Drummond raises Victoria Police’s role in a cover up and cites a Herald Sun article in his submission.
“The conduct of Victoria Police involved in using Gobbo as an informant was harshly criticised by the High Court in its unanimous judgment of November 2018,’’ he states.
“Moreover, Victoria Police fought hard for years to keep this scandal from public knowledge.
“The High Court judgment … lists the attempts by Victoria Police to prevent disclosure to certain convicted persons..... about the impact on their convictions of Victoria Police’s use of Lawyer “X”.
“The Herald Sun reported on 22 July 2019: Victoria Police was so desperate to keep the Nicola Gobbo informer scandal under wraps that force commanders [including now Chief Commissioner Shane Patton] warned the Director of Public Prosecutions not to even use the term “Lawyer X” …
“If Victoria Police control the investigations and preparation of briefs for the DPP, they will effectively determine who if any police will be prosecuted.
“How can the public have confidence now that Victoria Police will be diligent in investigating and preparing prosecution briefs against their own members?’’
“It has been suggested that instead of Victoria Police, all the work necessary to assemble a brief for the DPP could be done instead by Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC. That is unlikely to happen.”
Mr Drummond said according to IBAC it had been “largely neutered as a corruption watchdog” by a lack of funding.
He said funding for the body has been static since it was established in 2012.
“This means that today IBAC cannot investigate a significant number of complaints of serious misconduct which may warrant our investigation.”
Mr Drummond said the there are real questions as to whether numerous Victoria Police committed criminal offences in using Gobbo as a police informer.
“The Commission should therefore consider recommending in its final report that, in the interests of restoring public confidence in this discredited police force, the Victorian Government appoint a special prosecutor with authority to decide who is to be prosecuted,” he said.
“Such a prosecutor must be independent of political direction in contrast to the DPP …”
Mr Drummond says the Andrews Government has “benefited politically” from its relationship with Victoria Police during the COVID-19 crisis and its members of parliament had avoided being charged over the ‘Red Shirts’ corruption probe.
“The government has relied on Victoria Police, led by its senior officers, to rigorously enforce the harsh lockdown decrees the government has issued during the coronavirus pandemic. “Premier Andrews has reaped astonishingly wide support from many Victorians as a result. “Victoria Police decided not to prosecute any Andrews government MPs involved in the Red Shirts scandal,” it reads.