The former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff engaged in “serious corrupt conduct”, the ACT Integrity Commission has found, after reviewing his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann.
The report marks the latest development after Brittany Higgins went public with allegations that Lehrmann had raped her in Parliament House. The alleged incident has spawned a series of investigations and protracted legal battles.
The commission released a report on Wednesday into Sofronoff’s conduct as head of a board of inquiry into the prosecution. The commission launched the investigation in May 2024 to investigate whether Sofronoff acted corruptly by leaking his final report on the Lehrmann trial to select journalists ahead of its official release.
On Wednesday, the commission released its findings, stating that Sofronoff’s conduct fell within “several elements of the definition of ‘corrupt conduct’”, through his disclosures to two journalists: Janet Albrechtsen at the Australian and Elizabeth Byrne at the ABC.
Sofronoff had handed his final report to Andrew Barr, the ACT chief minister, on 31 July 2023 at about 1.15pm, the report found. He then sent the report in a text message to Albrechtsen less than an hour later. Sofronoff had already given the columnist at the Australian draft copies of the report in the days before, which the commission described as “highly sensitive, confidential documents”.
Albrechtsen called Sofronoff on 2 August informing him she had received the final report from another source and intended to publish a story in the Australian the following day.
The commission said Sofronoff did not attempt to prevent her from publishing the story, other than to not publish a name that should have been redacted in the copy of the report she had.
The report found that Sofronoff’s decision to share confidential documents with journalists ahead of the report’s public release was “contrary to the obligations of confidentiality prescribed by the Inquiries Act” and “could have amounted to offences against the Inquiries Act”.
“The disclosures were dishonestly concealed from persons involved in the inquiry, in particular [prosecutor Shane] Drumgold and the [ACT] chief minister, which prevented them taking protective legal action.”
The report said Sofronoff claimed 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”.
In a letter to Barr on 17 August 2023, Sofronoff wrote he held the “firm view that it would be a failure of performance of my function if I did not, myself and by my counsel assisting, form appropriate relationships with journalists in order to serve the statutory purpose of public education and involvement”.
“My previous experience, as well as my experience in this inquiry, has led me to conclude that it is possible to identify journalists who are ethical and who understand the importance of their role in the conduct of a public inquiry,” he wrote, defending his decision to leak the report ahead of its public release.
The commission, however, concluded Sofronoff had not acted in good faith and that his actions “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.”
It also found Albrechtsen had adopted a “strongly negative view” of Drumgold’s conduct prior to the report’s release. The commission suggested Sofronoff provided certain documents to Albrechtsen “not so much to inform [her] of the issues, but to support her strongly held opinions”.
The report said Sofronoff’s “covert” communications with Albrechtsen showed “he lost sight of the important public function he was discharging”.
It is not yet clear whether the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions will pursue any charges against Sofronoff for potentially breaching the Inquiries Act. Guardian Australia has sought comment.
Drumgold welcomed the findings and thanked the commission for its “thorough and professional” handling of the investigation but made no further statement.
An ACT government spokesperson did not say whether it would announce further investigations into Sofronoff’s conduct following the commission’s findings.
“We appreciate this has been a lengthy and detailed investigation and the findings speak for themselves,” the spokesperson said.
An ACT Policing spokesperson said they noted the findings and would “liaise with relevant stakeholders to consider any further action”.
Sofronoff chaired the ACT inquiry into the investigation and aborted Lehrmann trial in 2023. His report ruled out political influence or interference, praised police conduct, and instead called Drumgold’s conduct into question.
His report found that Drumgold “at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment” during the trial.
Drumgold, who resigned shortly after the report’s release, launched legal action against Sofronoff’s board of inquiry, alleging the inquiry failed to give him a fair hearing, denied him natural justice, breached the law and “gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias”.
A trove of emails and text messages revealed Albrechtsen and Sofronoff had 273 interactions over the inquiry’s seven months, including 51 phone calls, text messages, emails and a private lunch meeting in Brisbane. The former judge also spent seven-and-a-half hours on the phone to the Australian during the probe, many of which were with Albrechtsen.
The documents, released by the ACT supreme court in September 2024, show that in April 2023, Sofronoff texted a pdf to Albrechtsen. The next day, she published an article saying the inquiry’s terms of reference had been broadened to examine Drumgold and his conduct.
Other texts show Sofronoff sending Albrechtsen “strictly confidential” documents. On 6 May, he sent two pdfs which were described as the statements of two prosecutors involved in Lehrmann’s trial.
“Strictly confidential,” he wrote to Albrechtsen. “What a thing to do to two young professionals under your mentorship.”
Albrechtsen replied: “Thank you. Agreed on all counts.”
