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Operation Stockade officers accused of improper conduct
The Crime and Corruption Commission and Queensland Police Service officers involved in the Operation Stockade investigation against six men, comprising four lawyers and two former clients, have had a complaint issued against them over alleged improper conduct.
Jerome Doraisamy
The CCC in Queensland has referred an allegation of an offence against section 71B of the Justices Act 1886 relating to those involved in Operation Stockade to the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee.
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The CCC received the complaint and referred the matter to the PCCC, recommending the allegation be independently investigated.
“Any allegation of improper conduct by a CCC officer, or a QPS officer involved in a CCC investigation, is taken seriously by the executive of the CCC,” the commission said in a statement.
“The CCC was advised the PCCC has met and resolved to request the QPS to investigate the allegations. The investigation will be supervised by the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner.”
“The CCC fully supports the independent investigation of this matter and will cooperate with the investigation.”
The CCC noted the matters currently before the court relating to Operation Stockade will proceed in the ordinary course unaffected by these allegations or the investigation by the QPS under the supervision of the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner.
Those matters pertain to news last week of four criminal lawyers in Brisbane, who were each arrested and charged with numerous offences, including but not limited to alleged fraud and money laundering.
The arrests and charges came as a result of an 18-month major crime investigation into the activities of a Brisbane-based law firm.
Operation Stockade was the name given to the investigation that targeted the four lawyers, as well as two other men.
As reported last week by Lawyers Weekly, it will be alleged by CCC that some of the men were involved in “serious fraud offences against Legal Aid Queensland to a value of approximately $340,000 and fraud involving the failure to comply with the Legal Profession Act 2007 in relation to the requirement to deposit over $765,000 into a trust account”.
In addition, it will be alleged that some of the men “laundered the proceeds of serious criminal offenses”.
