Bikies under the spotlight in new deep crime investigation

Bikie members and their associates are being forced to answer questions or go to jail as the ACIC employs special powers to probe organised crime.

Secret questioning of bikie members and their associates is being ramped up in Victoria as the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission wages war on organised crime.

The ACIC’s coercive powers means bikies are forced to answer questions or go to jail.

The special powers are used to obtain information where traditional police methods fail and the ACIC is pushing ahead with plans to use its extraordinary powers more.

Sources have said the intelligence the Star Chamber provides is crucial in disrupting bikies and crime syndicates and helps police and federal law enforcement make big drug seizures and arrests.

Three new inquisitors — expected to be picked from the nation’s top barristers — will be appointed in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth on an annual salary of about $450,000 to carry out the crucial job.

Interrogations carried out across Australia in 2019–20 numbered 157.

The hearings in Melbourne at Victoria Police’s Spencer St headquarters quizzed people linked to bikies and organised crime. They are often willing to co-operate because the hearings are in secret and information they give is not used against them.

The ACIC passes the intelligence onto detectives to help in making arrests.

Secret interrogations of bikie members and their associates are being ramped up in Victoria. Picture: Alex Coppel

People who help support bikies and their illegal activities, such as accountants and lawyers, are among the people who have been quizzed.

“The use of our agency’s coercive powers has been effective in collecting information and intelligence to examine structures and links fundamental to organised criminal activity,” Michael Phelan, the ACIC’s chief executive, said.

“This has helped identify and take action against a range of criminal enterprises, which have proved highly resilient to traditional law enforcement methods.

“We use our agency’s coercive powers to proactively target the criminal enabling networks and methodologies of organised crime groups and identify emerging threats and issues, and develop intelligence to inform operational targeting opportunities and contribute to prevention, mitigation, policy and law enforcement decision making.”

Those brought in for questioning are allowed legal representation but it remains a criminal offence to refuse to answer questions or give misleading information.

On December 3 last year, bikie member CRA20 (a court pseudonym) was found guilty of contempt of the ACIC in the Federal Court and sentenced to eight months in prison.

“The coercive powers, including the power to conduct examination of witnesses, set the ACIC apart from traditional police services, and are important tools in the protection of the community from the impact of serious and organised crime,” Mr Phelan said.

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