New documents are set to be released after the ACT's former top prosecutor sued a scathing report author, who was found to have an apprehended bias against him.
The 839-page Board of Inquiry report, written by chairman Walter Sofronoff KC, examined the now-discontinued prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann and made damning findings against former Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC, among others.
Lehrmann has been found, to a civil standard, to have raped fellow former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019. He is now appealing this decision.
In March, the ACT Supreme Court ruled Mr Sofronoff's relationship with Janet Albrechtsen from The Australian gave rise to an apprehended bias against Mr Drumgold.
Mr Drumgold resigned as director of public prosecutions in 2023 after being slammed in the report.
On Friday, lawyer for Mr Drumgold, Richard Ackland, applied to have access to previously tendered files.
While they had been provided to the court, these documents have not been made publicly available to the media. They are set to be published online in the coming weeks.
It is unknown at this stage what the files contain.
Several exhibits including a full outline of text messages between Mr Sofronoff and Ms Albrechtsen have not been made public.
The court heard earlier this year Ms Albrechtsen and Mr Sofronoff had 273 "communications" in a seven-month period; this included 51 phone calls.
This also included revelations Ms Albrechtsen had flown to Brisbane to have a private lunch with Mr Sofronoff.
Acting Justice Stephen Kaye found these communications, which took place before and during the inquiry, may have caused a fair-minded observer to think Mr Sofronoff had been influenced by the columnist's views.
Mr Drumgold had launched legal action last year, seeking parts of the report be quashed or, alternatively, the conclusions made in relation to him be declared invalid, or affected by bias, or a denial of natural justice.
The former top prosecutor has also recently called for the ACT government to redact parts of the report.
He has also claimed "extensive" media reporting on findings critical of his conduct, before he had seen the document himself, forced him to resign early.
In March, Acting Justice Kaye also found Mr Sofronoff had failed to afford Mr Drumgold natural justice concerning the release of a letter to the chief police officer under freedom of information laws.
Additionally, the judge ruled a report finding that Mr Drumgold had engaged in "grossly unethical conduct" in his treatment of Senator Linda Reynolds was legally unreasonable.
This came after the ACT government apologised and paid $90,000 in damages to Senator Reynolds over the propositions put to her by Mr Drumgold in the Lehrmann trial.
