6 May 2013
Neil Mercer
Seven months after he was asked to investigate the alleged illegal
bugging of hundreds of NSW police, NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour is asking
serving and former officers and members of the public to come forward
with information.
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| Appeal for information: NSW Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour. |
Advertisements have been placed seeking more information
about the inquiry, code named Operation Prospect, which has a budget of
$3.5 million and is likely to run for at least two years - all of it in
secret.
A number of former NSW Police officers have told the
Herald they
are reluctant to come forward because the inquiry will not hold any
public hearings, despite Premier Barry O'Farrell and Police Minister
Mike Gallacher saying they wanted any investigation to be as "open and
transparent" as possible.
The former police say they are also concerned about the
ability of the Ombudsman's office to investigate so many serious and
complex alleged criminal offences.
In response to a series of questions, Mr Barbour's office said Prospect had seven full-time investigative
staff and two full-time non-investigative staff. They had "extensive
operations and investigative backgrounds". A number were former police
officers but none was from NSW Police.
It's not clear whether formal hearings have started. The
Ombudsman said there would be "no public announcements of the details of
private hearings". But he did reveal that some people had been given
''whistleblower'' status.
"Some complaints have been received which have been
determined to be public interest disclosures" and those witnesses would
be given "all protections" afforded under the legislation, he said.
Mr Barbour would not say whether he would call NSW Supreme
Court judges who had granted controversial listening device warrants,
some of which allowed the bugging of 119 people at a time.
In February Mr Barbour told a parliamentary committee that
Prospect's scope was "enormous".
He said his office had already received
"close to 1350 boxes of information, with more to come".
Prospect will investigate whether the NSW Police special
crime and internal affairs unit (SCIA) and the NSW Crime Commission
illegally bugged hundreds of serving and former NSW Police during a
covert corruption inquiry, Operation Mascot, and whether judges were
given false information. The Police Integrity Commission was involved
later.
Mascot ran from January 1999 to mid-2001. Central to the
operation was a corrupt, serving detective known as M5. While some of
those M5 bugged were bent, many were honest, and dozens of serving and
former detectives say their names were put on listening device warrants
illegally or improperly and in some cases as a "get square".
Although the allegations of wrongdoing date back more than a
decade, the reputations and careers of the most senior NSW Police are on
the line.
At crucial times, Commissioner Andrew Scipione was
responsible for SCIA and was warned of possible wrongdoing in a memo
dated November 2001, which he referred to his superiors.
One of the key SCIA officers involved in the bugging was Cath
Burn (pictured), now one of Mr Scipione's deputies. One of those bugged
was Nick Kaldas, now a deputy commissioner.
The state government announced the inquiry in October after
Fairfax published details of secret NSW Police reports into the bugging
scandal. The reports, by Strike Force Emblems, were suppressed by
successive governments. Emblems found "criminal conduct" might have
been behind some of the bugging and that false information might have
been given to judges. But the reports were inconclusive because the NSW
Crime Commission refused to hand over crucial documents, citing secrecy
provisions.
The
Herald has obtained new evidence that
information in one of the Mascot affidavits was false. A former officer
says a ''meeting'' between him and M5 "never happened" and is a
complete fabrication.
