Jun 27 2008
Office of Police Integrity lashes mafia squad
A SECRET taskforce set up by Christine Nixon to investigate the Calabrian mafia has been attacked by the police corruption watchdog.
One of the taskforce detectives selected by the Chief Commissioner was jailed for drug dealing and another resigned immediately after being questioned by the Office of Police Integrity.
And the man who convinced Ms Nixon to form the mafia taskforce has been convicted and fined for inciting a Victoria Police officer to provide confidential information.
An OPI report yesterday accused the Victoria Police commander Ms Nixon chose to head the mafia probe of using it to further his own interests.
Operation Clarendon was established to investigate links between serving and retired Victoria Police officers and Italian organised crime gangs.
It was scrapped in July 2002 after Ms Nixon was told of corruption allegations against the taskforce’s Det-Sen-Sgt Wayne Strawhorn.
The OPI report yesterday revealed former Victorian federal Labor MP Bob Sercombe was instrumental in the taskforce’s formation, introducing Rod Lambert, then a Victoria Police commander, to former federal policeman Kerry Milte.
The OPI report criticised Milte, Mr Lambert and now jailed former drug squad detective Strawhorn for their roles in the mafia taskforce.
“Operation Clarendon appears to have been engineered by Mr Milte, Mr Lambert and Mr Strawhorn to further their own interests, although Mr Lambert denies this,” it said.
Ms Nixon appointed Mr Lambert and Strawhorn to Operation Clarendon in April 2002 after two face-to-face meetings with Milte.
The OPI report said she’d agreed to see Milte because former NSW assistant commission Paul McKinnon, whom she’d known since childhood, had recommended him as a man with valuable information about organised crime.
Strawhorn was convicted in 2006 of drug trafficking. Mr Lambert quit shortly after being quizzed by the OPI about his involvement with Milte, who was convicted and fined in 2006 after admitting inciting a Victoria Police officer to illegally access sensitive material from the police database.
The only criticism of Ms Nixon in the OPI report, tabled in State Parliament yesterday, was that she didn’t follow correct procedures in establishing Operation Clarendon.
Ms Nixon’s chief of staff, Kevin Scott, told the OPI this was because of the nature of Milte’s information and a perception at the time that the organised crime squad was not working effectively.
But the Police Association yesterday accused the OPI of going soft on Ms Nixon by not properly examining her role in the Milte affair.
“The OPI report is a whitewash,” Police Association legal manager Greg Davies said.
“The OPI’s past form tells us that there is no doubt that its treatment of the Chief Commissioner in this report is infinitely more favourable than any other police member it has previously dealt with.”
A spokeswoman for Ms Nixon denied that the OPI investigation had not been thorough and said she and the force had fully co-operated with the OPI.
Office of Police Integrity lashes mafia squad – Keith Moor – June 27, 2008 12:00am – This story was found at: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23929209-2862,00.html
