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Rowena Orr a test of mettle for the toughest of them

Five words spoken by counsel assisting Rowena Orr QC should strike fear into the heart of any witness.

Counsel assisting the banking royal commission, Rowena Orr QC.
Counsel assisting the banking royal commission, Rowena Orr QC.

“Can I show a document.”

They are the five apparently harmless words spoken by counsel assisting the banking royal commission, Rowena Orr QC, that should strike fear into the heart of any witness.

Time and again over the past two weeks, banker after banker has been caught in Orr’s trap.

If you lie to Orr, the chances are that somewhere in the royal commission’s vast collection of documents lies a digitised piece of paper that will reveal the truth.

For the steely Orr and her team of youthful assassins, including baby-faced QC Michael Hodge and lean junior Mark Costello, command of this database is key.

Each financier comes to the stand a master or mistress of the universe, clad in an armour of ­obfuscation that has so far protected them from the consequences of the industry’s misdeeds, only to be stripped bare by a few words. The banking bulldust — “conversations”, “journey”, “solve for” — falls away and the grubby reality emerges. It is a craft learned at the side of Michelle Gordon, the High Court judge for whom Orr was often a junior (and who happens to be married to commissioner Kenneth Hayne).

Take celebrity financial adviser Sam Henderson, whom Orr had in her sights on Thursday. Did he disclose a shareholding in a company that ran funds into which he tipped a pile of clients? Orr wanted to know: “Did you disclose that interest to your clients?”

“I did,” Henderson said.

“Can I show you a document,” she replied — the financial services guide Henderson’s company gave clients in 2016. She asked him if the shareholding was revealed in the document.

“I would have thought so,” he said. It wasn’t.

Ben ButlerNational Investigations Editor

Ben Butler has investigated everything from bikie gangs to multibillion dollar international frauds, with a particular focus on the intersection between the corporate and criminal worlds. He has previously worked for mastheads including The Age, The Australian and The Guardian.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/banking-royal-commission/rowena-orr-a-test-of-mettle-for-the-toughest-of-them/news-story/e2622a7fbe374704411d4e419305c1ab