Updated The Bruce Lehrmann Trials Pt2 * Justice Lee - "Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins."

[Kurve]

Here is PART 1

Historical Rape Allegation Against Fmr AG Christian Porter
The Alexander Matters matters

Just a reminder, this is the crime board and we need to be aware that there will be victims of crime either watching this thread or engaging in here from time to time. A degree of respect in all discussions is expected.

LINK TO TIMELINE
CJS INQUIRY
FINAL REPORT – BOARD OF INQUIRY – CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Joint media statement – Chief Minister and Attorney-General

LINK TO FEDERAL COURT DEFAMATION PROCEEDINGS

 

[BFew]

I gave Taylor Auerbach the 3 votes as the most entertaining witness during the defo case. Ten should pay for that.
He made Channel 7 look worse than a laughing stock.

I bet his book is not half as funny.
Probably a bit dirty though.

 

[BFew]

Reads to me like Taylor is letting everyone know not to mess around with him, or he might just publish some dirty stuff.
Could also be spruiking for a new employer, that might negate his willingness and need to publish.

 

[Brian Oblivion]

Reads to me like Taylor is letting everyone know not to mess around with him, or he might just publish some dirty stuff.
Could also be spruiking for a new employer, that might negate his willingness and need to publish.

Channel 7 have already paid him "go away" money so I don't think he'll be going back there.

Maybe he can join Nine and freshen up A Current Affair ?

 

[FIGJAM]

Surely Taylor should be writing and starting in a Baby Reindeer-esque retelling of events from that period.

Early working title: ‘Warpath’.

 

[spike101]

I gave Taylor Auerbach the 3 votes as the most entertaining witness during the defo case. Ten should pay for that.
He made Channel 7 look worse than a laughing stock.

Given that Bongiorno lived with Ridsdale for some years but claimed he knew nothing about Ridsdale’s actions do you believe Bongiorno in anything he says?

 

[Brian Oblivion]

Given that Bongiorno lived with Ridsdale for some years but claimed he knew nothing about Ridsdale’s actions do you believe Bongiorno in anything he says?

I never mentioned Bongiorno. You did. Do go on.

 

[Brian Oblivion]

The Guardian today .........

Walter Sofronoff to be investigated over corruption allegations​

Sarah Basford Canales
The ACT’s integrity commission has announced it is investigating allegations of corruption by the former Queensland judge Walter Sofronofffor his conduct with the media while undertaking an inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann trial.

The commission announced last month it would be assessing whether Sofronoff’s decision to provide a copy of his inquiry’s final report to two journalists – including a columnist for The Australian newspaper, Janet Albrechtsen – before the ACT chief minister had made the report public amounted to corrupt conduct.

It comes after it was also revealed in supreme court hearings that Sofronoff had extensive communications with the media during the seven-month inquiry, including 273 interactions with Albrechtsen.

Shane Drumgold, the former ACT director of public prosecutions, had launched legal action against adverse findings made by Sofronoff against him, including that Drumgold had “at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment”.

Drumgold had a partial win after a supreme court judge ruled in March Sofronoff’s dealings with Albrechtsen gave the impression he “might have been influenced by the views held and publicly expressed” by her.

The integrity commissioner on Monday said a full investigation would now probe the matter further.

The commission’s statement said:

On 5 April 2024, the ACT integrity commission (the commission) issued a media alert confirming it had received and was assessing allegations of corruption regarding the conduct of the Hon Walter Sofronoff KC as it relates to the board of inquiry into the criminal justice system in the Australian Capital Territory (the board).
The commissioner has completed his assessment of these allegations and has decided to commence an investigation into the impugned conduct as he suspects, on reasonable grounds, that Mr Sofronoff’s conduct may constitute corrupt conduct.
On 1 February 2023, the board was established and commenced under the Inquiries Act 1991 and Mr Sofronoff was appointed to conduct the inquiry. On 31 July 2023, the report resulting from the board of inquiry was delivered to the ACT chief minister.
The allegations assessed by the commissioner relate to the provision by Mr Sofronoff of his report to two journalists before it was made public by the chief minister, allegedly in breach of the requirements of the Inquiries Act 1991 and allegedly constituting corrupt conduct under the Integrity Commission Act 2018.
As the investigation is ongoing, the commission will not be making any further public comments at this time.

 

[Festerz]

The Guardian today .........

Walter Sofronoff to be investigated over corruption allegations​

...the Commissioner “suspects, on reasonable grounds, that Mr Sofronoff’s conduct may constitute corrupt conduct…”


So the silk who was appointed to head up an independent inquiry into the ACT criminal justice system is now being investigated for his his own lack of independence - specifically his cosy relations with NewsCorp opinion columnist and Bruce Lehrmann advocate - Janet Albrechtsen.

This latest development will upset a few prominent posters in this thread. But anyone with any sense of independence could see the Sofronoff/Albrechtsen relationship for what it was and that it needed to be thoroughly and independently investigated.

Will be hard for former judges to be harsh on one of their former and respected professional colleagues but I look forward to the results of the inquiry.

I wonder what will happen to Janet. Surely NewsCorp will suspend their star columnist on professional ethics grounds pending the outcome of this investigation? (rhetorical question btw).

 

[BFew]

I wonder what will happen to Janet.

They'll double down and probably give her a pay rise/promotion now.

 

[Ghost Patrol]

Poor Janet.

It's obviously a witch hunt.

 

[Festerz]

Poor Janet.

It's obviously a witch hunt.

IMHO The first glaring hint at possible collusion between Sofronoff and Albrechtsen was in his draft report which appeared to mix up a paragraph from one of Janet's articles with an opinion of a NSW Supreme Court.

Leading to obvious questions (but missed by The Australian newspaper which otherwise had taken an obsessive interest in the Lehrmann court trials) as to the extent of collaboration between Sofronoff and Albrechtsen in his report, e.\g.:

 

[Kurve]

I wonder what will happen to Janet. Surely NewsCorp will suspend their star columnist on professional ethics grounds pending the outcome of this investigation? (rhetorical question btw).

Albrechtsen won't be able to avoid the tricky questions now.

Powers of the Commission​

In performing its functions concerning corrupt conduct, the Commission has extensive powers under the Integrity Commission Act 2018, including (but not limited to):

• the power to enter premises;
• the power to seize things;
• the power to summons people to attend an examination and give evidence to the Commission, both privately and publicly;
• the power to compel the production of documents and things; and,
• the power to conduct investigations on its own initiative where it suspects on reasonable grounds that the matter involves corrupt conduct.

Investigative powers of the Commission - ACT Integrity Commission

www.integrity.act.gov.au

 

[BFew]

So now Janet is an "influencer".

Although with only a pic of Sofronoff in the below article, the pic appears incomplete to me.
Takes two to tango.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/integrity-commission-probe-into-walter-sofronoff-corruption-allegations/news-story/067cb4d1803d6d5ce590b03a7e4527bd

'Integrity Commission probe into Walter Sofronoff ‘corruption’ allegations​

By JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS​

REPORTER
9:34PM MAY 13, 2024

...
He found Mr Sofronoff may have been “influenced” by the views of The Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen while conducting the inquiry that ended Mr Drumgold’s career.
...'

 

[Kurve]

I think the Integrity Commission should strike before she has a chance to get rid of all the evidence and raid Janet Albrechtsen's house with a team of tech sniffer dogs. At the same time, coordinate a raid on the offices of The Australian.

 

[Kurve]

There's a chance through this, we might find out who gave her the Moller Report.

 

[Ghost Patrol]

Double double, toil and trouble.

 

[FIGJAM]

I think the Integrity Commission should strike before she has a chance to get rid of all the evidence and raid Janet Albrechtsen's house with a team of tech sniffer dogs.

I would have thought that one of the key lessons in this broader case is to NOT curate data on your various accounts when there is an investigation!

 

[MPMonkeys]

I would have thought that one of the key lessons in this broader case is to NOT curate data on your various accounts when there is an investigation!

Hopefully this investigation will shoot down another nonsensical conspiracy theory about this case that the tin foil hatters are so fond of.

The idea that Albrechtson corrupted Sofronoff for no benefit to Sofronoff is utterly bizarre. Here is a well regarded jurist that is putting his reputation and all he has worked for on the line for what exactly...............

Anyway, I'm sure the nutters out there will see what they want to see.

 

[Brian Oblivion]

Hopefully this investigation will shoot down another nonsensical conspiracy theory about this case that the tin foil hatters are so fond of.

The idea that Albrechtson corrupted Sofronoff for no benefit to Sofronoff is utterly bizarre. Here is a well regarded jurist that is putting his reputation and all he has worked for on the line for what exactly...............

Anyway, I'm sure the nutters out there will see what they want to see.

Yeah, right - so why is he under investigation for corrupt behaviour ? For fun ?

 

[FIGJAM]

Hopefully this investigation will shoot down another nonsensical conspiracy theory about this case that the tin foil hatters are so fond of.

The idea that Albrechtson corrupted Sofronoff for no benefit to Sofronoff is utterly bizarre. Here is a well regarded jurist that is putting his reputation and all he has worked for on the line for what exactly...............

Anyway, I'm sure the nutters out there will see what they want to see.

I've always found the amount of interactions with Albrechtsen, particularly the 51 direct calls to be abnormally high. Hard to know if he was just polite to her in responding to her no doubt huge amount of communication on her part, took a shine to her, or whatever, but it is a significant amount of time invested for someone so busy.

I'd be interested to know for relativity, just how many interactions Sofronoff had with the ABC's Elizabeth Byrne who also received a advanced copy of his verdict. Nobody would expect Byrne to be as aggressive as Albrectsen on this matter I'd have thought.

It's important to remember that the judge who stated that there was a “reasonable apprehension of bias”, also upheld the majority of findings against Drumgold. Drumgold deserved his whack on a variety of issues.

 

[MPMonkeys]

Yeah, right - so why is he under investigation for corrupt behaviour ? For fun ?

I guess because a lot of nutters out there have pressed the ACT Government for an investigation.
Happy to have the investigation just so we can laugh at another tin foil conspiracy that has gone wrong.

 

[MPMonkeys]

I've always found the amount of interactions with Albrechtsen, particularly the 51 direct calls to be abnormally high. Hard to know if he was just polite to her in responding to her no doubt huge amount of communication on her part, took a shine to her, or whatever, but it is a significant amount of time invested for someone so busy.

I'd be interested to know for relativity, just how many interactions Sofronoff had with the ABC's Elizabeth Byrne who also received a advanced copy of his verdict. Nobody would expect Byrne to be as aggressive as Albrectsen on this matter I'd have thought.

It's important to remember that the judge who stated that there was a “reasonable apprehension of bias”, also upheld the majority of findings against Drumgold. Drumgold deserved his whack on a variety of issues.

Agree - but if all the information is outbound and not inbound then there is simply nothing to see here. Happy for it to be investigated.

 

[Kurve]

Hopefully this investigation will shoot down another nonsensical conspiracy theory about this case that the tin foil hatters are so fond of.

The idea that Albrechtson corrupted Sofronoff for no benefit to Sofronoff is utterly bizarre. Here is a well regarded jurist that is putting his reputation and all he has worked for on the line for what exactly...............

Anyway, I'm sure the nutters out there will see what they want to see.

This is not a conspiracy theory.

"The commissioner says he suspects "on reasonable grounds" that Mr Sofronoff's conduct may constitute corruption."

 

[MPMonkeys]

This is not a conspiracy theory.

"The commissioner says he suspects "on reasonable grounds" that Mr Sofronoff's conduct may constitute corruption."

What possible benefit is there for Sofronoff to corrupt his own Inquiry?
It really is beyond ridiculous. If it was legitimately corrupt then he would just hand down his findings how he saw fit.

Was it inappropriate for him to share information during the Inquiry with various media?
From the outside looking in, maybe.

But we don't know what the guard-rails were when the Inquiry was set up or what this information was or whether it was all outbound information or inbound and outbound information.

A wise person once told me that when it comes to public officials, if you suspect one was either corrupt or incompetence, then incompetence wins every single time.

 

[Kurve]

What possible benefit is there for Sofronoff to corrupt his own Inquiry?
It really is beyond ridiculous. If it was legitimately corrupt then he would just hand down his findings how he saw fit.

Was it inappropriate for him to share information during the Inquiry with various media?
From the outside looking in, maybe.

But we don't know what the guard-rails were when the Inquiry was set up or what this information was or whether it was all outbound information or inbound and outbound information.

A wise person once told me that when it comes to public officials, if you suspect one was either corrupt or incompetence, then incompetence wins every single time.

You've gone from praising Sofronoff to suggesting he was incompetent.

You keep asking what would have motivated him to corrupt the inquiry when we don't know if he did it deliberately or not, only that the evidence is clearly there on reasonable grounds, to suspect that it was, in fact, there's evidence suggesting collusion with Albrechtsen.