There are fresh accusations NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption held back evidence at a public hearing that would have undermined its narrative. The latest claims were raised by Newcastle businessman Andrew Poole, whose lawyers say ICAC seized documents that supported Mr Poole’s evidence but never made them public. His lawyers ...
Read More »ICAC accusations leave a trail of destruction
Murray Kear is the latest to join me as a member of the ICAC survivor’s club: found innocent in court but not exonerated by this anti-corruption agency. Kear, a former commissioner of the NSW State Emergency Service, has been exonerated by the NSW justice system after being accused of corruption ...
Read More »Justice has a high price when it comes to defeating ICAC
ICAC investigator Paul Grainger was the last person on the planet that Andrew Poole wanted to speak to. For Poole, Grainger was the personification of his nemesis — the Independent Commission Against Corruption, whose 2013 “findings” of corruption against the Newcastle businessman must rank alongside the Margaret Cunneen affair as ...
Read More »Time to remove stench of ICAC ‘corruption’ claims: John Kinghorn
by: Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs Editor, The Australian, November 13, 2015. Businessman John Kinghorn has just joined an elite club: the innocent victims of the NSW government’s Independent Commission Against Corruption. Like prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC and fellow businessman Andrew Poole, Mr Kinghorn was wrongly accused by ICAC of crime ...
Read More »Mike Baird’s bad politics over ICAC changes will get worse
by: Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs Editor, The Australian, November 13, 2015. For better or worse, Mike Baird has linked his fate to an organisation whose competence and rigour are seriously in doubt. It’s bad politics, bad public policy and bad law. The NSW Premier has chosen the worst possible time ...
Read More »ICAC’s legal liabilities in corruption cases will hurt taxpayers
by: CHRIS MERRITT, Legal Affairs, The Australian, November 13, 2015. John Kinghorn is the latest victim of the NSW anti-corruption agency to be exonerated by the courts. But it was not cheap: his legal bill came to $1.3 million. Most, but not all, of that legal bill will be recouped from ...
Read More »When mud sticks … cost of ICAC’s rough justice
Prejudice: Chris Merritt, The Australian, November 06, 2015 When David Levine examined the horrific way in which the NSW justice system treated Newcastle businessman Andrew Poole he did not mince his words. “This outcome represents the dysfunctionality and contradictions that exist in the environment of corruption and investigation in this ...
Read More »ICAC’s Failings are Caused by its Alien Structure
One of the enduring criticisms of the NSW justice system has been its failure to secure criminal convictions against those who have already been processed by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. It’s a problem that is easily fixed. After ICAC’s catastrophic pursuit of prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC, it is becoming ...
Read More »ICAC Prosecution Briefs with DPP in relation to Operation Acacia
The Commission is of the opinion that consideration should be given to obtaining the advice of the DPP with respect to the prosecution of Ian Macdonald, John Maitland, Craig Ransley and Andrew Poole for various offences as follows – Ian Macdonald, for the common law offence of misconduct in public ...
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