Walter Sofronoff’s legal team has filed an appeal in the Federal Court. Photo: Federal Court of Australia.
A former judge is yet again trying to have a finding that he engaged in serious corrupt conduct overturned, launching an appeal to the Federal Court.
The court previously dismissed Walter Sofronoff’s attempt to quash the ACT Integrity Commission’s finding that he had engaged in serious corrupt conduct while he headed up a Board of Inquiry into the ACT Criminal Justice System, as he had shared his final report with two journalists before it was made public by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.
The Commission also found Mr Sofronoff provided confidential matter to The Australian journalist Janet Albrechtsen, including witness statements (some that were subject to non-publication orders and subject to legal professional privilege), drafts of the report, notices of adverse findings against former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, and Mr Drumgold’s initial response to the notices.
Federal Court Justice Wendy Abraham found Mr Sofronoff’s legal team had “not established that the finding of serious corrupt conduct is either unreasonable, irrational and/or illogical.”
The appeal documents show Mr Sofronoff’s legal team has argued that the primary judge made several errors in her findings.
It submitted that the judge should have found that the Commission had erred in finding there had been a “breach of public trust” and that Mr Sofronoff had “acted dishonestly and in bad faith”.
The team also submitted the judge should have found that the Commission wasn’t impartial and that the Commission’s report itself was affected by jurisdictional error.
It also made several technical arguments regarding the Inquiries Act 1991.
Mr Sofronoff’s legal team is seeking an appeal to have the previous Federal Court orders set aside and a finding that the Integrity Commission’s report was “affected by jurisdictional error”.
He’s also seeking costs for both the proceedings and the appeal.
At the time of publishing, no dates have been set by the Federal Court to move the matter forward.
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