Anti-corruption chief Alan MacSporran facing calls for his sacking

The head of Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission is facing the sack and the integrity watchdog an overhaul in recommendations to a parliamentary inquiry.

Crime and Corruption Commission chair Alan MacSporran. Picture: AAP

The head of Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission is facing the sack and the integrity watchdog an overhaul in recommendations to a parliamentary inquiry into an aborted prosecution that led to the disbandment of one of the state’s biggest councils.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Jonathon Horton QC, accused CCC chair Alan MacSporran of overseeing a powerful organisation resistant to scrutiny over the 2019 laying of fraud charges against the then-mayor and seven councillors in Logan, south of Brisbane.

The charges related to the 2018 dismissal of the council’s chief executive, Sharon Kelsey, who is a witness in a separate corruption case against former Logan mayor Luke Smith.

In his submission to the parliamentary crime and corruption committee, Mr Horton said Mr MacSporran did not ensure the CCC acted “at all times … impartially, independently and fairly” in its investigation and decision to lay charges.

“We submit that that failing is serious and reflects ­poorly on his standing as the chair of the CCC,’’ he told the committee, which will deliver its report next month.

“It’s open to you to conclude that what you’ve seen here in the documents, in the oral evidence, in the attitude of the CCC, in the tenor of submissions that are now made, there is a resistance to scrutiny and to accept there is a problem of leadership.

“And you may not … have the ­confidence that the chair can ­ensure the organisation’s continued impartiality, ­independence and fairness.

“For that reason, we’ve raised … a question of whether you would wish to make any recommendation to the Legislative Assembly in accordance with the provision in that ­respect, section 236 of the Crime and Corruption Act.”

Under the act, Mr MacSporran can be sacked from the statutory authority on the recommendation of the bipartisan parliamentary committee.

Mr Horton said the hearings exposed a problematic culture at the CCC, with court orders ­ignored, confidential documents released and a “group think” to lay the charges, abandoned this year on the orders of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Horton said the CCC had been driven by an “improper purpose” to assist Ms Kelsey get her job back as she fought for reinstatement in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

The fraud charges led to disbandment of the Logan Council, with an administrator appointed until the subsequent local government elections in March 2020.

Mr Horton made recommendations to cap the tenure of a CCC chair, rotate police officers seconded to the watchdog more frequently and remove its ability to prosecute people it had probed

He also recommended the committee consider a finding that one of the CCC’s top investi­gators, Detective Sergeant ­Andrew Francis, acted improperly over his delivery of confidential documents to the Logan City Council on October 3, 2018.

It has been alleged that some of the material was secret, as it had been obtained in star chamber hearings, and was handed over to help Ms Kelsey’s unfair sacking case, which she subsequently lost.

Appearing on behalf of the CCC, Peter Dunning QC rejected the allegation that the CCC was not open to scrutiny. “It hasn’t acted in the way of a party that’s not willing to open itself up to criticism,’’ he said.

He told the inquiry the decision to lay charges against the councillors had been backed by two highly regarded prosecutors before they went ahead.

He said a review, conducted at the behest of the CCC for the ­inquiry, by retired District Court judge Kerry O’Brien also supported the decision.

He rejected criticism of Mr MacSporran’s oversight of the ­investigation and decision to charge.