ICAC Offers to Cover Cunneen's Legal Costs
Friday 30 January 2015 @ 10.01 a.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has offered to bear the legal costs of Margaret Cunneen SC in the pending High Court case concerning corrupt conduct. As we have previously reported here and here, the ICAC is seeking to commence a public inquiry into allegations that Cunneen advised her son’s girlfriend, Sophia Tilley, to “pretend to have chest pains” to avoid being breath-tested after being involved in a car accident.
A Brief Summary
The ICAC had announced on 30 November 2014 that it would hold a public inquiry to decide whether Cunneen and her son, Stephen Wyllie, intended to pervert the course of justice at the scene of an accident earlier this year. The matter was initially brought before the NSW Supreme Court where Justice Hoeben found that interference with an investigation with the intention to deflect criminal or disciplinary action can amount to perverting the course of justice or an attempt to pervert the course of justice. He explained that when defining corrupt conduct, it should not be unnecessarily read down.
On appeal to the Court of Appeal, Cunneen successfully had the trial verdict overturned. The majority of the court opted for a narrower interpretation of corrupt conduct and found that the conduct must have intended to, or tends to have the effect of deflecting officials from undertaking criminal prosecution or interfere with the administration of justice by the courts.
ICAC’s Offer
The ICAC has offered to cover all of Cunneen’s legal costs in the ensuing battle before the High Court. It is unclear why such an offer has been made, however, the submission from the ICAC suggests that this would shift the public’s focus to the point of law in question and away from the adversarial court battle.
Threat to ICAC Investigation
The ICAC has suggested that clarification of this legal principle or point of law is of great urgency as the Court of Appeal decision has caused uncertainty to pending ICAC investigations as well as previous judgments:
"There is now uncertainty as to whether the commission has the power to investigate all the ... allegations regarding conduct which could have negatively affected the exercise of public functions by public officials."
Two other investigations, including the high-profile corruption inquiry into NSW political donations, have already been delayed as a result of the ruling, ICAC claimed.
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