Queensland corruption chief hits out at DPP move

Queensland’s corruption watchdog boss has criticised the decision by prosecutors to abandon the controversial fraud case against seven Logan councillors, saying it should have gone to a jury trial.

CCC chairman Alan MacSporran. Picture: Liam Kidston

The head of Queensland’s anti-corruption watchdog has criticised a ­decision by prosecutors to abandon the controversial fraud case against seven Logan councillors, saying it should have gone to a jury trial.

In a rare public criticism, Crime and Corruption Commission chair Alan MacSporran told The Australian he ultimately accepted the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision, but he argued the evidence should have been tested before a jury.

The fraud charges were dropped by the DPP on Wednesday, two years after they prematurely ended the political careers of the councillors and left them fearing they would be sent to jail.

“I don’t agree with it, frankly. I think this was a case for a jury. I still do,” Mr MacSporran said.

“But that’s not my call and I accept the Crown’s decision, because that’s their call.”

Under pressure to stand aside from his role, Mr MacSporran rejected calls from the Local Government Association of Queens­land chief executive Greg Hallam for a review into the matter.

“The criticism of us is completely without justification,” Mr MacSporran said. “There’s no way I’m standing aside. This is a case where not only is there no basis for a review, we’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. The decision for the prosecution to go to committal with our brief endorses that.”

Premier Annastacia Palasz­czuk has said the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee had oversight of the CCC and was conducting a scheduled five-year review into its functions.

Mr MacSporran said the PCCC review was the best forum for the CCC’s actions to be considered.

“They can do whatever they like, call us to account and we can explain ourselves,” he said.

After the charges were dropped this week, several of the councillors spoke emotionally about the impact the legal action had on their lives. Former councillor Phil Pidgeon said the charges had led to the breakdown of his marriage and reputation.

“This has destroyed my career. I was a councillor for 22 years,” Mr Pidgeon said. “I can’t get a job anywhere that matches my skill set.

“Nobody wants to talk to me because as soon as they hear about the fraud charge that’s been laid against me they don’t want to know you.”

Mr MacSporran said he did not regret his organisation laying the charges and that proper oversight processes had been followed.

“If I thought for a nanosecond that I had caused a gross miscarriage of justice by pushing a case that had no legs to their detriment, I’d be the first to own up,” he said.

The councillors were charged in 2019 for sacking the council’s chief executive Sharon Kelsey in 2018. The CCC alleged they had dismissed her because she had made a public interest disclosure to the CCC about former mayor Luke Smith, with whom they were politically aligned.

Mr Smith was on Wednesday committed to stand trial to face two charges related to Ms Kelsey’s dismissal.

Mr Hallam had argued Ms Kelsey’s dismissal was an industrial relations matter. He said that view had been vindicated by the DPP’s decision and soundly rejected a statement issued by Mr MacSporran on Wednesday in which the CCC boss defended the charges.

A decision on Ms Kelsey’s unfair dismissal claim in the Queensland Industrial Relations Comm­ission has been handed down but has been suppressed until the criminal matters are resolved.