New police probe as Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial looms
Ben Roberts-Smith has denied allegations that he buried a USB containing classified material in his backyard as an attempt by Nine Entertainment to ‘punish’ him.
Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has denied allegations he buried a USB containing classified material in his Queensland backyard, labelling them an attempt by Nine Entertainment to “punish” him for launching defamation proceedings against the company and its star investigative reporter Nick McKenzie.
Lawyer Mark O’Brien said in a statement on Wednesday that the allegations aired by Nine so close to the commencement of the defamation trial appeared to be “either an attempt to intimidate” the Victoria Cross recipient into discontinuing the legal proceedings or to “punish him for bringing them”.
It comes after the Australian Federal Police confirmed it had launched a fresh probe into Mr Roberts-Smith over allegations he buried in his backyard evidence of depraved conduct by Special Air Services Regiment soldiers in Afghanistan and intimidated a witness who sought to testify to a war crimes inquiry.
“The allegation he buried USBs in his backyard is false,” Mr O’Brien said. “The allegation that he threatened any witness or potential witness to the IGADF Afghanistan Inquiry to stop them giving evidence is false.
“The allegation that Mr Roberts-Smith’s former matrimonial home was raided by the AFP in 2020 (or at any time) and USBs (were) ‘covertly seized’ is false. Mr McKenzie, Mr Masters and Nine know that allegation, republished again today, is false.
“It will neither intimidate nor deter him from proceeding with the trial and bringing the respondents, including Mr McKenzie, to account for the lies they have published about him.”
The files buried by Mr Roberts-Smith in a pink, child’s lunch box included 13 videos of drone vision taken by NATO military forces in Afghanistan as well as copies of classified operational reports from an SAS mission in Southern Afghanistan, and contained images of soldiers misbehaving at a makeshift bar, according to Nine.
The images also show one soldier at the Fat Lady’s Arms dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit while others are drinking alcohol from a prosthetic leg taken from a Taliban fighter killed by an Australian soldier in 2009. Other images show senior SAS officers pretending to engage in sex acts with subordinates.
At a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday, AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said police had launched a probe over the allegations made by 60 Minutes and Nine newspapers.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial against Nine is scheduled to begin on June 7.
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