Ex-police chief Christine Nixon could face court grilling

Ex-police chief Christine Nixon may be questioned under oath about her allegedly malicious pursuit of a detective.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon faces an attempt to have her questioned under oath about her allegedly malicious pursuit of one of the state’s most decorated detectives.

Lawyers for former senior sergeant Paul Mullett, who led the Police Association before being charged with serious criminal ­offences, are stepping up a legal ­action against Ms Nixon and ­others.

The Supreme Court action seeks redress for the destruction of Mr Mullett’s career in an alleged witch-hunt by the heads of Vic­toria Police and the now-­disbanded and discredited anti-corruption agency the Office of Police Integrity.

The case against Mr Mullett, the recipient of two valour awards, collapsed because of a lack of evidence. He was unable to return to his job and now works part-time as a firefighters’ union official.

Investigations by The Australian have revealed serious bungling, a misstating of evidence against him and high-level concerns the OPI probe maliciously targeted him after sensational and unsupported claims to police by a known perjurer and killer who was trying to cut a favourable deal.

At the time of the covert investigation, which culminated in charges against Mr Mullett, he was publicly opposed to the unorthodox new management of Ms Nixon, who had come from the NSW police, and Simon Overland, who was recruited from the Australian Federal Police. Mr Overland was furious after learning from a police telephone tap that he had been lampooned by Mr Mullett about a proposed work trip to Fontainebleau, near Paris, to study management techniques.

The OPI has since been wound up while Ms Nixon and her successor, Mr Overland, have left Victoria Police. Ms Nixon was embarrassed by a public inquiry into her conduct during Victoria’s bushfires disaster while Mr Overland quit in 2011 after an Ombudsman criticised him for publishing misleading crime statistics in the lead-up to a state election.

In a new filing to the Supreme Court, solicitor Katarina Klaric has advised that Mr Mullett’s legal team needs to “conduct an oral examination” of Ms Nixon about her affidavit documents. Former deputy commissioner Kieran Walshe and Superintendent Wayne Taylor also face questions.

Charges of perjury, perverting the course of justice and wilfully making a false statement were brought against Mr Mullett at the height of his feud with Ms Nixon, who ordered the charges before the Office of Public Prosecutions had considered whether they were justified. A magistrate threw out one charge, saying “there is a palpable lack of direct evidence. There is an abundance of chaff, and few grains of wheat”, while two charges were not proceeded with. The Director of Public Prosecutions offered no evidence on the remaining two charges.

The seriousness of the original charges meant Mr Mullett faced a possible lengthy jail sentence over allegations he insisted were trumped up and then misused to remove him from his role as a leader of the police union.

In Mr Mullett’s Supreme Court civil case, which seeks damages and a finding of malicious prosecution, it is claimed Ms Nixon “had determined to destabilise his standing with members of the Police Association and if possible cause him to be removed from his office as secretary of the … association and as a member of Victoria Police in order to remove and eliminate his vigorous opposition to her industrial relations plans.”

Ms Nixon, Mr Walshe and Superintendent Taylor have denied acting unlawfully or with malice. They insist they acted in good faith at all times and have filed documents in their defence.

Their reasons for withholding several documents will be challenged if Mr Mullett’s lawyers succeed in their bid to subpoena the three for questioning under oath.

Mr Overland has repeatedly rejected claims he acted unlawfully.