iCook owner urges top cop to intervene in slug inquiry

A food business owner who alleges a slug was planted in his kitchen to justify closing it down wants the state’s top cop to step in after the probe was closed.

The owner of a commercial food business shut by a local council has urged the state’s top cop to personally intervene after police ended their investigation this week.

Ian Cook’s call in a letter to Chief Commissioner Shane Patton comes amid claims no one was formally interviewed as part of the criminal investigation into the 2019 closure of iCook Foods and that vital evidence was not analysed.

Mr Cook has alleged a slug was planted in the kitchen of his factory to justify its closure by City of Greater Dandenong officials.

The shutdown order was signed-off by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.

A former Victoria Police detective who has compiled a 16-folder brief of evidence in the matter has described the police investigation as a sham.

iCook boss Ian Cook has written to Mr Patton, urging that he step in.

Mr Cook said the complex case had been shuffled between three criminal investigation offices, despite “compelling evidence of serious crimes.”

Ian Cook, owner of iCook foods.

“This is an incredibly serious matter, with implications not just for every Victorian, but for every Australian,” Mr Cook said in a letter to Mr Patton.

“I write to ask that you commit to personally intervening to ensure proper justice occurs in this matter”.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the force could not comment on the letter because Mr Patton had not yet received it.

Former Victoria Police sergeant Paul Brady, who was engaged to investigate the matter by Mr Cook, compiled 6000 pages of evidence and hundreds of hours of body-worn camera footage.

He said two health inspectors had never been arrested or questioned over what they knew of the allegations.

Mr Brady said the case was shut down just six days after police were presented with fresh evidence that pertinent body-worn camera footage had been tampered with.

“The available evidence in that brief is compelling,” Mr Brady said.

“It (the investigation’s closure) is a disgrace.”

Victoria Police said this week the matter had been investigated and no criminal charges were appropriate.

Forty-five jobs were lost and 10.3 tonnes of food thrown out after the council’s order iCook be shut.

Mr Cook intends to continue with a $50 million law suit over the decision.

Last August, a parliamentary inquiry found the order was prepared and served on valid grounds and for a proper purpose.

But it concluded the decision’s framework and processes that led to the decision were inadequate.

There was also a finding that iCook was not dealt with fairly or consistently.

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