Police Scandal Rocks Baillieu Josh Gordon and David Rood October 28, 2011

Police scandal rocks Baillieu Josh Gordon and David Rood October 28, 2011 THE Baillieu government has been rocked by the exposure of a secret plot from within the office of the Deputy Premier to oust former police commissioner Simon Overland. The explosive revelations, contained in a report from the Office of Police Integrity, yesterday forced the resignation of a junior minister and a key police adviser to the government. The report has also placed Deputy Premier and Police Minister Peter Ryan at the centre of the most damaging scandal to hit Premier Ted Baillieu in his 11 months in office, and under intense political pressure. Advertisement: Story continues below Mr Ryan insisted he had ''absolutely no idea'' that his police adviser, Tristan Weston, had been running a destructive and machiavellian campaign of leaks against Mr Overland. The Office of Police Integrity probe also found that Mr Ryan's ministerial understudy, parliamentary secretary for police Bill Tilley, was complicit in the plot. Mr Tilley and Mr Weston - an ex-police officer who was hand-picked by Mr Ryan after failing as a Liberal candidate at the 2010 election - both resigned yesterday after the OPI report was tabled in Parliament. The report, by OPI director Michael Strong, also canvassed whether the admissible evidence would justify criminal charges against Mr Weston. The report said Mr Weston had pursued his own political agenda with ''no sense of boundaries'', releasing often unfounded and misleading leaks that played a direct role in Mr Overland's decision to quit in June. ''Having failed to gain parliamentary office, [Mr Weston] found himself in a position of power and influence … and he simply did not know where to draw the line, or much care,'' the report said. It also revealed: ■Mr Weston told ex-deputy commissioner Sir Ken Jones that the government had a secret deal with Police Association chief Greg Davies for the union to ''go soft'' on industrial matters in exchange for the government accepting the withdrawal of his resignation. ■Sir Ken sent a letter purporting to withdraw his resignation from the force to Mr Weston's private email address. The letter was never acted on and was deleted by Mr Weston to avoid scrutiny. ■Mr Weston believed Mr Ryan's chief of staff, Ben Hindmarsh, was aware of and ''condoned'' his activities, and that his conduct was ''implicitly condoned'' by Mr Ryan. Mr Hindmarsh and Mr Ryan have denied these claims. ■Mr Weston disparaged then deputy commissioner - and now acting Chief Commissioner - Ken Lay in a phone call to Sir Ken, saying the government's stance on Mr Overland would hinge on which way ''that sycophantic toad Ken Lay falls''. Mr Weston, who was sent on indefinite leave in June after the allegations were aired to Mr Ryan, vowed to vigorously defend any legal action against him by the OPI. He said its conduct had been ''biased, highly subjective and legally flawed''. Mr Tilley acknowledged his actions had been ''inconsistent'' with his role as a parliamentary secretary, but vowed to remain a Liberal MP, ensuring the Coalition keeps its slender one-seat majority in Parliament. The report, which relied heavily on secretly recorded phone calls and interviews with Mr Weston, Mr Ryan, Mr Tilley and other government figures, also calls into question the judgment of Sir Ken, who held secret meetings with Mr Weston, Mr Tilley and Mr Baillieu's chief of staff, Michael Kapel. It said his relationship with Mr Weston had been ''totally inappropriate''. The report also revealed that in secretly taped conversations Sir Ken had been ''highly critical'' of Victoria Police's management and Mr Overland, and felt he had placed himself ''in a position of future compromise'' by being party to a secret deal that could have left him indebted to the Police Association. Sir Ken yesterday released a statement saying the OPI had ''seriously misconstrued'' his contact with Mr Weston. ''At the time, I believed the government was reaching out to me to see what could be done to calm a volatile situation,'' he said. ''I was given what were represented to me by Mr Weston [as] reassurances from the Deputy Premier.'' Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews seized on the report. ''Simon Overland is gone, Sir Ken Jones is gone, Tristan Weston is gone, the member for Benambra [Mr Tilley] is gone. It seems the minister is the last man standing because he apparently knows nothing. How stupid does he think Victorians are?'' he asked in Parliament. Mr Ryan responded: ''The government has at all times done the right thing.'' Amid the uproar, Mr Andrews was ejected from Parliament, and most Labor MPs walked out in support. Outside, Mr Andrews said Mr Ryan's insistence he had been unaware of the activities in his office ''beggared belief''. He said the report revealed a culture of interference and a remorseless campaign of gross misconduct. In a news conference, a shaken Mr Ryan said he accepted responsibility for employing Mr Weston but that his ex-adviser went on a ''folly of his own''. He said he had absolutely no idea of Mr Weston's actions. ''I regret terribly that it has happened,'' he said. ''I have done nothing wrong in this. I don't believe there was any circumstance in the course of that 90 days [of Mr Weston's employment] where I could conceivably have known that this man was doing what he did,'' he said. Mr Baillieu said Mr Weston's actions were not taken on the government's behalf, and the government did not authorise or condone them. Mr Tilley's actions were inconsistent with being a parliamentary secretary. .

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