Official fined for leaking to Brian Burke

A FORMER top WA official has been fined for leaking confidential government information about land rezoning to former premier Brian Burke.

A FORMER top state government official in Western Australia has been fined $1500 after being found guilty of disclosing confidential government information to former premier turned lobbyist Brian Burke.

While Mr Burke was cleared of disclosing official secrets over land tenements, Gary Stokes - the former Department of Industry and Resources (DOIR) deputy director-general - was convicted of leaking an official letter to benefit a land developer Mr Burke was working for in March 2006.

In Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday, Stokes was fined, but also granted a spent conviction, after the protracted prosecution.

Disclosing official secrets carries a maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment or a $12,000 fine.

The charges arose from a Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigation into land at Whitby, southeast of Perth, owned by residential property developer Urban Pacific, to which Mr Burke was a consultant.

The confidential information was contained in a letter from then DOIR director-general Jim Limerick to then Department of Planning and Infrastructure director-general Greg Martin and related to rezoning the land, which mineral sands company Bemax wanted to use for mining.