Head of Lehrmann inquiry engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’: watchdog

The head of an inquiry into former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s sexual assault prosecution engaged in serious corrupt conduct by disclosing confidential information to journalists, an inquiry by the ACT’s corruption watchdog has found.

In damning findings released on Wednesday, the ACT Integrity Commission said former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff, KC, “dishonestly concealed” the fact he had given a copy of his report to two journalists, including The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen, before it was publicly released. No findings were made against the journalists.

His conduct “significantly compromised the integrity of the Inquiry”, the watchdog said.

“The Commission has concluded that certain aspects of Mr Sofronoff’s conduct as Board of an Inquiry instituted under the Inquiries Act 1991 amounted to serious corrupt conduct as defined in the Integrity Commission Act 2018,” the report said.

“Mr 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.

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“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.”

The Lehrmann trial was aborted in 2022 owing to juror misconduct.

More to come.