Former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas will call the outgoing top cop Andrew Scipione as a witness in his court battle to overturn an ombudsman report that made damning findings against him, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In its long-awaited report on the police bugging scandal, released in December, the NSW ombudsman made damaging findings against Mr Kaldas, including that he "may" have committed the offence of giving "false and misleading testimony" during a secret hearing.
Mr Kaldas is seeking to have the findings against him overturned in the NSW Supreme Court, along with a declaration there is a "reasonable apprehension" the state's former ombudsman Bruce Barbour was "biased" against him.
He claims Mr Barbour was "partial in favour" of police commissioner Mr Scipione, who is set to retire from the top job in April, and the two men "met privately" to discuss the ombudsman's investigation.
Arthur Moses, SC, acting for Mr Kaldas, told the Supreme Court on Friday: "We will be issuing a subpoena for Mr Scipione to give evidence in the proceedings."
Mr Scipione announced his retirement last week, sparking fierce speculation about who would take the top job. Mr Kaldas is understood to be considering applying, although for him to be appointed legislation would have to be changed.
There is a preliminary issue in the case as to whether the ombudsman is immune from the court action.
Documents tendered in court reveal Mr Kaldas also believed he was the victim of a "whispering campaign" that cost him promotions to senior law enforcement positions.
In a written complaint dated September 2012, Mr Kaldas alleged senior officials had "wrongly convinced" then Premier Barry O'Farrell and Police Minister Mike Gallacher that he had leaked information to the media and had accordingly been declared "persona non grata".
In late 2012 the ombudsman, then led by Mr Barbour, commenced an investigation into an internal police bugging operation than ran between 1999 and 2001.
Mr Kaldas was among about 100 police bugged during this operation, codenamed Mascot. A parliamentary inquiry subsequently recommended he and others receive a formal apology.
Among the documents filed in court is an email Mr Kaldas wrote to Mr Barbour in 2014, in which he says he was the "victim of illegalities" and had been "savaged professionally".
Mr Barbour replied he was "surprised" to receive the email and said it was "clearly inappropriate" for the two men to speak to each other directly.
Mr Kaldas took urgent action last year to halt the release of the ombudsman report but was unsuccessful.
Justice Peter Garling said Mr Kaldas had shown there were "serious issues to be tried" but the public interest in releasing the report immediately outweighed his interest in "protecting any harm and damage to his reputation".
