Former cop claims border chief Roman Quaedvlieg killed career

A former undercover cop has gone public about how Australian border chief Roman Quaedvlieg snuffed out his job prospects.

Roman Quaedvlieg.

They were both highly experienced police officers working on sensitive investigations — but only one would be promoted through the ranks after helping to snuff out the other’s prospects.

With Australian Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg set to be sacked over a personal relationship as early as today, former undercover cop Darren Hall has gone public about a long-­simmering row between the pair. Mr Hall says his career never recovered after Mr Quaedvlieg instigated investigations into him when they were at the Australian Crime Commission. The ACC sacked Mr Hall as a result of the inquiry, but the decision was overturned on appeal. He has pursued it ever since, briefing lawyers and filing Freedom of Information requests.

To back his claim of unjust treatment, Mr Hall spoke to The Australian about an extraordinary secret recording that captured events in the ACC’s Melbourne office in the hours after his dismissal. “(Mr Quaedvlieg) was the one who instigated the whole thing. I hold him responsible,” he said.

Mr Hall was a Queensland police officer for 19 years before starting work as a deep cover ­operative at the ACC in January 2004. Mr Quaedvlieg then was the ACC’s senior manager of covert and informant units.

Months later, Mr Quaedvlieg raised concerns Mr Hall may have inappropriately helped a former colleague prepare for an ACC job interview. An investigation was ordered, also looking at a bar tab from a work gathering.

Mr Hall denied wrongdoing but on October 29 was called to his office and handed a termination letter from then-chief executive Alastair Milroy. He was ordered from the building and told to leave behind all ACC property — including a covert recording device, which he had activated and which operated for about two hours. No one else knew it was running, including Mr Quaedvlieg, who entered the room and carried the device to his office. ACC staff later retrieved the recording and gave him a copy.

In the recording, Mr Quaedvlieg allegedly discussed how other factors, relating to the handling of informants, may have been responsible for Mr Hall’s dismissal. He was not able to respond to these issues.

On legal advice, Mr Hall did not reveal the recording existed when appealing against his dismissal at the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

In 2005, AIRC commissioner John Tolley overturned Mr Hall’s sacking and labelled the investigation “seriously flawed”.

In 2007, back at the ACC, Mr Hall complained to the Victorian Ombudsman about the contents of the recording. The Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity investigated.

Mr Quaedvlieg strenuously denied wrongdoing.

In 2009, then-integrity commissioner Philip Moss released a report referring to but not naming Mr Quaedvlieg: “In my view, while the comments of the senior officer constituted poor judgment at the time, they are not evidence of corrupt conduct.”

Mr Hall went on stress leave in 2008 and left the ACC in 2011. He has denied separate allegations in a 2009 report Queensland’s corruption watchdog compiled without talking to him.

Mr Quaedvlieg says he “fully co-operated with ACLEI” and had “contextualised and reconciled this allegation to its satisfaction”. “I brought certain matters of concern to me ... to the attention of the senior executive of the ACC who decided to act on those matters,” he said. “Being tough on misbehaviour and demonstrating intolerance to poor practices and unprofessional behaviour is a strong anti-corruption strategy.”