Latest news with #WalterSofronoff
Perth Now
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Bombshell claim about Sofronoff report
The ACT integrity watchdog has admitted that scathing findings made against the head of an inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann contained errors, a court has been told. Former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff KC chaired the Board of Inquiry into the criminal prosecution of Mr Lehrmann. The ACT Integrity Commission investigated Mr Sofronoff's conduct during his inquiry, in particular his decision to send a copy of the board's report to journalists from The Australian and ABC prior to its official release by the ACT government. The Commission in March found Mr Sofronoff had engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct', however he is now seeking to have the Operation Juno report overturned by the Federal Court. During a hearing in the Federal Court on Tuesday, Justice Wendy Abraham was told that lawyers for the Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly had argued that the report was covered by parliamentary privilege. That would mean that the report would not be able to be tendered to the court and therefore he could not seek judicial review. Walter Sofronoff is seeking to overturn the ACT Integrity Commission's findings. NewsWire/Tertius Pickard. Credit: News Corp Australia 'It follows that if the speaker's submissions are accepted, the court should refuse to admit the Operation Juno report and it seems to follow inevitably that the court would therefore refuse to entertain the allegations that have been made in the amended originating application,' barrister Alison Hammond, appearing for the speaker, told the court on Tuesday. 'And it would appear that the result would be that the proceedings are dismissed.' Documents filed by his legal team claim Mr Sofronoff was given the ability to do 'whatever (he) considers necessary or convenient for the fair and prompt conduct of the inquiry' as head of the inquiry. Mr Sofronoff said he 'subjectively considered that it was necessary or convenient for the fair and prompt conduct of the inquiry for him to engage with journalists'. The documents also claim the retired judge's actions were 'incapable of amounting to corrupt conduct' and the findings were 'seriously illogical, irrational and/or unreasonable'. Adam Pomerenke KC, acting for Mr Sofronoff, told the court that it had been conceded by the ACT Integrity Commission that the report contained errors. 'Your Honour may see from the respondent's submissions that ground two of the application has been conceded - that is to say there is now an admission of error in the report and it's significant,' Mr Pomerenke said. 'It is an admission that the finding that Mr Sofronoff's conduct could have constituted a contempt of court was not open, was unlawful. 'If our learned friends are right about the operation of parliamentary privilege, this court is powerless to address that error which we say is of a jurisdictional kind.' Lawyers for Sofronoff say the report contained errors. NewsWire/Tertius Pickard. Credit: News Corp Australia He said it would be 'most surprising' if such a report - which contains 'admitted errors of a serious kind' - was immune from judicial review. The court heard it was argued that the report came under parliamentary privilege at the point when it was submitted to the speaker. And Ms Hammond argued that the findings could have been challenged before the report was handed over. Justice Abraham asked: 'These proceedings were filed on the 19th of March. If they had been filed on the 17th of March it wouldn't be a problem?' 'Yes, Your Honour. But there is a good reason for the bright-line distinction,' Ms Hammond replied. Justice Abraham will hand down her judgment on the parliamentary privilege matter at a later date.
News.com.au
20-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘Admitted errors': Bombshell claim about Sofronoff report
The ACT integrity watchdog has admitted that scathing findings made against the head of an inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann contained errors, a court has been told. Former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff KC chaired the Board of Inquiry into the criminal prosecution of Mr Lehrmann. The ACT Integrity Commission investigated Mr Sofronoff's conduct during his inquiry, in particular his decision to send a copy of the board's report to journalists from The Australian and ABC prior to its official release by the ACT government. The Commission in March found Mr Sofronoff had engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct', however he is now seeking to have the Operation Juno report overturned by the Federal Court. During a hearing in the Federal Court on Tuesday, Justice Wendy Abraham was told that lawyers for the Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly had argued that the report was covered by parliamentary privilege. That would mean that the report would not be able to be tendered to the court and therefore he could not seek judicial review. 'It follows that if the speaker's submissions are accepted, the court should refuse to admit the Operation Juno report and it seems to follow inevitably that the court would therefore refuse to entertain the allegations that have been made in the amended originating application,' barrister Alison Hammond, appearing for the speaker, told the court on Tuesday. 'And it would appear that the result would be that the proceedings are dismissed.' Documents filed by his legal team claim Mr Sofronoff was given the ability to do 'whatever (he) considers necessary or convenient for the fair and prompt conduct of the inquiry' as head of the inquiry. Mr Sofronoff said he 'subjectively considered that it was necessary or convenient for the fair and prompt conduct of the inquiry for him to engage with journalists'. The documents also claim the retired judge's actions were 'incapable of amounting to corrupt conduct' and the findings were 'seriously illogical, irrational and/or unreasonable'. Adam Pomerenke KC, acting for Mr Sofronoff, told the court that it had been conceded by the ACT Integrity Commission that the report contained errors. 'Your Honour may see from the respondent's submissions that ground two of the application has been conceded - that is to say there is now an admission of error in the report and it's significant,' Mr Pomerenke said. 'It is an admission that the finding that Mr Sofronoff's conduct could have constituted a contempt of court was not open, was unlawful. 'If our learned friends are right about the operation of parliamentary privilege, this court is powerless to address that error which we say is of a jurisdictional kind.' He said it would be 'most surprising' if such a report - which contains 'admitted errors of a serious kind' - was immune from judicial review. The court heard it was argued that the report came under parliamentary privilege at the point when it was submitted to the speaker. And Ms Hammond argued that the findings could have been challenged before the report was handed over. Justice Abraham asked: 'These proceedings were filed on the 19th of March. If they had been filed on the 17th of March it wouldn't be a problem?' 'Yes, Your Honour. But there is a good reason for the bright-line distinction,' Ms Hammond replied. Justice Abraham will hand down her judgment on the parliamentary privilege matter at a later date.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Lehrmann inquiry head Walter Sofronoff to challenge finding he engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct'
The former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff will challenge findings that he engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct' by leaking his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann to two journalists before it was made public. The Australian Capital Territory Integrity Commission's report, released on Wednesday, found that Sofronoff's conduct fell within 'several elements of the definition of 'corrupt conduct'', through his disclosures to two journalists: Janet Albrechtsen at the Australian and Elizabeth Byrne at the ABC. Sofronoff had been appointed by the ACT government to determine whether the investigation into the aborted Lehrmann trial in 2023 had been affected by political influence or interference. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email His report ruled out political influence or interference, praised police conduct and found that the ACT director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, had 'at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment' during the trial. Lawyers for Sofronoff said on Wednesday evening that he had filed an application with the federal court to challenge the lawfulness of the Integrity Commission's report. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The report found that Sofronoff's decision to share confidential documents with journalists before the report's public release was 'contrary to the obligations of confidentiality prescribed by the Inquiries Act' and 'could have amounted to offences against the Inquiries Act'. 'The disclosures were dishonestly concealed from persons involved in the inquiry, in particular Drumgold and the chief minister, which prevented them taking protective legal action.' The report said Sofronoff had claimed his conduct 'complied with the requirements of the Inquiries Act' and that he believed he had 'acted in the public interest to ensure the media were adequately informed about the issues being investigated by his inquiry and in a position to comment accurately about them'. Nevertheless, it concluded that Sofronoff had not acted in good faith and that his actions 'undermined the integrity of the board's processes and the fairness and probity of its proceedings to such an extent as to have been likely to have threatened public confidence in the integrity of that aspect of public administration. It therefore constituted serious corrupt conduct.' More details to come
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Lehrmann inquiry head Walter Sofronoff engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct' , review finds
Former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct', the ACT Integrity Commission has found, after reviewing his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann. The commission released a report on Wednesday into Sofronoff's conduct as a Board of Inquiry into the prosecution. It found that 'Sofronoff's conduct fell within several elements of the definition of 'corrupt conduct'', through his disclosures to two journalists: Janet Albrechtsen at The Australian newspaper and Elizabeth Byrne at the ABC. The report found that '[Sofronoff's] disclosure of confidential material to journalists contrary to the obligations of confidentiality prescribed by the Inquiries Act could have amounted to offences against the Inquiries Act'. 'The disclosures were dishonestly concealed from persons involved in the Inquiry, in particular [prosecutor Shane] Drumgold and the [ACT] chief minister, which prevented them taking protective legal action.' The report said Sofronoff 'claimed that his conduct complied with the requirements of the Inquiries Act, and that he had acted in the public interest to ensure the media were adequately informed about the issues being investigated by his Inquiry and in a position to comment accurately about them. 'However, the commission concludes that he had not, in fact, acted in good faith and that his conduct, amounting to corrupt conduct within the meaning of the IC Act, undermined the integrity of the Board's processes and the fairness and probity of its proceedings to such an extent as to have been likely to have threatened public confidence in the integrity of that aspect of public administration. It therefore constituted serious corrupt conduct.' More details to follow
