Former AFP Deputy commissioner Ramzi Jabbour is cleared of complaints
For the first time, we can lift the lid on what happened behind-the-scenes to Ramzi Jabbour, a popular career cop with 30 years’ experience, who has been cleared after a string of complaints.
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One of Australia’s former top cops, once touted as the next AFP Commissioner, has finally been completely cleared of a string of complaints described as untrue, trivial, and orchestrated to keep him out of the running for the top job.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has tabled a letter in Federal Parliament from the former corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), which states all matters against former AFP Deputy Commissioner Ramzi Jabbour have been finalised with no adverse findings against him.
Mr Dutton told Parliament he was “pleased but not surprised” that Mr Jabbour had no case to answer.
“It was anomalous to me at the time because the allegations were completely out of character with the person I knew,” said Mr Dutton.
“It was also unfair because it precluded him at the time from being considered for the role of Commissioner. He would have been a strong contender for that position.”
It is only now that the ACLEI case has been closed that the details of the failed pursuit of Mr Jabbour can be told for the first time and questions asked about how the AFP and the watchdog got things so embarrassingly wrong.
Sources close to the investigation say it was an “unsupervised, prejudicial investigation undertaken by persons well below the rank, level, and experience to thoroughly investigate the serious allegations against a Deputy Commissioner.”
They have also maintained “it was an orchestrated for a desired outcome.”
At the time the allegations were being made against Mr Jabbour there had been a grubby internal mudslinging campaign in the AFP which was playing out by supporters of candidates who were jockeying for the coveted position of the next AFP commissioner. There were months of speculation that the then AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin would not be seeking another term when his contract expired. The NT Territory Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw was subsequently appointed.
Mr Jabbour was one of the most experienced and knowledgeable of the AFP’s senior executives. He had built close relationships with other law enforcement agencies and state police forces – relationships which have crumbled since his departure.
He had led counter-terrorism teams, people smuggling investigations and complex organized crime operations, as well the Bali bombing investigations.
But it was exactly those talents that colleagues believe made him a target for the string of untrue and trivial allegations that took him out of the running.
In the police, anonymous allegations can be made against an officer, and it can take years to investigate and clear their name. It has been four nearly five years since the allegations against Mr Jabbour and it is only now ACLEI has written to Mr Jabbour confirming the allegations were baseless.
In the case of Mr Jabbour, the original complaint to ACLEI in 2018 was that he had leaked confidential information about an investigation to a third party.
ACLEI has since found this to be untrue.
It was established that the investigation was so sensitiveat the time, it had been siloed within the AFP and Mr Jabbour had never ever been given the information he was accused of leaking.
After the collapse of that complaint, it should have been the end of the matter. And it should have sounded alarm bells when a second complaint was made within days of the first.
This time Mr Jabbour was accused of abusing his office by seeking advice from AFP Legal department for some “definitions” of legal terms so he could help another AFP colleague for whom he was acting as a support person for in a misconduct case. The ACLEI found no evidence of any wrong doing.
But in looking for information, investigators came up with another allegation that Mr Jabbour has abused his office by asking the AFP legal team for a “steer in the right direction” for a child’s homework.
He was charged and found not guilty with ACT Magistrate questioning whether the matter should have ever been prosecuted at all. ACLEI has also found was no evidence of inappropriate conduct.
Then another corruption allegation that Mr Jabbour arranged for a relative to be given access to firearms to be used on an AFP training property and that was inappropriate and benefited the relative.
He was also charged and also found not guilty of any wrong doing and awarded costs.
The ACLEI found that Mr Jabbour had not even proposed the firearms exercise himself, but he and his relative had been invited to a pre-existing training exercise by AFP employees for legitimate work purposes.
The corruption watchdog has made recommendations about the conduct of the AFP including conducting integrity training for managers, updating governance frameworks, and reviewing its internal frameworks.
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Originally published as Former AFP Deputy commissioner Ramzi Jabbour is cleared of complaints
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