The former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff will challenge findings that he engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” by leaking his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann to two journalists before it was made public.
The Australian Capital Territory Integrity Commission’s report, released on Wednesday, found 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 been appointed by the ACT government to determine whether the investigation into the aborted Lehrmann trial in 2023 had been affected by political influence or interference.
His report ruled out political influence or interference, praised police conduct and found that the ACT director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, had “at times … lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment” during the trial.
Lawyers for Sofronoff said on Wednesday evening that he had filed an application with the federal court to challenge the lawfulness of the Integrity Commission’s report.
The report had found that Sofronoff’s decision to share confidential documents with journalists before 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 Drumgold and the chief minister, which prevented them taking protective legal action.”
The report said Sofronoff had claimed his conduct “complied with the requirements of the Inquiries Act” and that he believed 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”.
Nevertheless, it concluded that 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.”
Sofronoff, the Australian and the report
Sofronoff 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”.
On 2 August, Albrechtsen called Sofronoff, 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. It also found Albrechtsen had adopted a “strongly negative view” of Drumgold’s conduct prior to the report’s release.
The commission’s report said interactions between the pair “suggests” 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”.
Thanks from Drumgold
Drumgold on Wednesday thanked the Integrity Commission for its “thorough and professional” handling of the investigation but made no further statement.
Shortly after Sofronoff’s report into the Lehrmann trial was released, Drumgold resigned as the ACT’s top prosecutor. He later launched legal action against the findings. He alleged 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”.
In March 2024, the ACT supreme court ruled Sofronoff’s findings against Drumgold were infected by a perception of bias due to his communications with Albrechtsen. It ruled that their communications gave the impression Sofronoff “might have been influenced by the views held and publicly expressed” by Albrechtsen.
The ACT supreme court later released a trove of emails and text messages showing Albrechtsen and Sofronoff had 273 interactions over the inquiry’s seven months, including 51 phone calls, text messages and emails. The pair also conducted 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.
Guardian Australia has contacted the ACT Integrity Commission for comment.
