The main judge Walter Sofronoff, who probe Brittany Higgins’s rape trial is marked as “seriously corrupt”, since Bruce Lehrmann’s curse claims another victim

The respected former judge who directed the Board of Investigation on the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann involved in a “serious corrupt behavior”, according to the Commission of Integrity of the Law.

The corruption regulator investigated the retired judge of Queensland Walter Sofronoff about his treatment with two journalists while conducting his investigation into the failed case of the crown against Lehrmann in 2023.

Mr. Sofronoff gave his final report to Janet Albrechttsen from Australia and Elizabeth Byrne of ABC before the Act government officially publishes it.

The investigation found that “public confidence” threatened the processes of his investigation, together with the trials issued in his report, and fell into “several elements of the definition of” corrupt behavior. “

The dissemination of the report (Mr. Sofronoff) of the report to the journalists before they have publicly published against the requirement of the Investigation Law, “said the findings of the Commission.

The report should have been exclusively to the main minister to rule on the moment and scope of the publication, subject to the role of the Legislative Assembly, he said.

“The revelations were dishonestly hidden from the persons involved in the investigation, in particular (former main prosecutor of the Shane law) Drumgold and the (main act) minister, which prevented them from taking protective legal actions,” added the results.

‘This contested behavior constituted the exercise of the official functions of Mr. Sofronoff in a way that was not impartial, significantly compromised the integrity of the investigation that constitutes a violation of public confidence.

‘And, with respect to his communications with Mrs. (Janet) Albrechttsen, he gave rise to a bias apprehension that affected his findings about Drumgold. That behavior could have justified the elimination of Mr. Softoff of the investigation.

The Law Integrity Commission found former judge Walter Sofronoff involved in a “severe corrupt behavior” while directed a investigation board on Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecution

The guardian dog of corruption found that Mr. Sofronoff has acted in an inappropriate way during the interactions with Janet Albrechttsen of Australia (in the photo)

The investigation also criticized Mr. Sofronoff for his decision to give Elizabeth Byrne of ABC a copy of her final report under embargo

The report indicated that Sofronoff maintained that his interactions had “met the requirements of the consultation law.”

“Mr. Sofronoff said that his conduct complied with the requirements of the Investigation Law, and that he had acted in public interest to ensure that the media were properly informed about the problems that are investigated for their investigation and in a position to comment on them,” the report said.

‘However, the Commission concludes that, in fact, it had not acted in good faith and that its conduct, which is equivalent to corrupt behavior in the sense of the IC law, undermined the integrity of the processes of the Board and the equity and probability of its procedures to such a extent that it has probably threatened public confidence in the integrity of that aspect of the public administration.

“Therefore, it constituted a serious corrupt behavior.”

No findings were made against any of the journalists.

Mr. Sofronoff’s investigation had investigated the management of accusations of sexual assault against Lehrmann.

The former liberal employee was tried in the Supreme Court of ACT in 2022 for accusations that he had violated his then colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House after an excessive consumption of alcohol consumption in 2019.

The criminal trial was aborted after it was discovered that one of the jury members had been involved in misconduct, and Drumgold refused to pursue a trial for concern for the fragile mental health of Mrs. Higgins.

The criminal trial against Bruce Lehrmann was aborted in 2022 as a result of jury’s misconduct

Later, it was discovered that Lehrmann raped his colleague Brittany Higgins in the Parliament’s house on the balance of probabilities after he demanded the Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson

Drumgold requested a public investigation on how the case was handled, only so that Mr. Sofronoff’s review makes condemnatory findings on the conduct of the then DPP.

Since then, it has been found that Mr. Sofronoff’s findings have been affected by bias apprehension in the Act Supreme Court.

Since then, it has been discovered that Lehrmann has violated Mrs. Higgins in the balance of probabilities in a civil court after launching separate defamation actions against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for an interview with Mrs. Higgins that appeared in the project.

That decision is currently appealing.

The guard dog of the corruption of the law found that Sofronoff provided Mrs. Albrechtsen a variety of “confidential materials”, including the statements of witnesses who had not been presented as evidence in the investigation and drafts of its final report With comments from the legal team helping the consultation.

The commission found the revelations “He ascended to a serious violation in the probity of Mr. Sofronoff’s exercise.”

The Guardian dog also found that Mr. Sofronoff had sent his final report to Mrs. Albrechtsen and Mrs. Byrne under embargo and that, in doing so, he had done it. ‘He acted to favor his interests as journalists to the detriment of the compensatory interests of the participants (of the investigation) and the main minister ‘.

Mr. Sofronoff claimed to provide the report to the two journalists as a way to help them understand their content and inform the findings when they were released, but the commission rejected their explanation as “fantasy.”

The former main prosecutor of the law, Shane Drumgold, requested a public investigation on the management of accusations of the law of accusations against Lehrmann only to be beaten by the resulting investigation

‘() Is equivalent to reality to no more than give Mrs. Albrechttsen and Mrs. Byrne a “permanent beginning,” the commission found.

Mr. Sofronoff’s investigation made “several serious findings of misconduct” against Drumgrol and found the main prosecutor “sometimes … lost objectivity and did not act with equity and detachment” during Lehrmann’s trial.

Drumgold resigned in the days after the final report was made public, but then requested a judicial review of the conclusions in the Supreme Court of the Law, with Judge Stephen Kaye finding that they were affected by a bias apprehension by Mr. Sofronoff.

“The impartial observer could apprehend that, at that time, Sofronoff considered himself as a” traveler partner “of Mrs. Albrechttsen regarding the opinions he had expressed and maintained in his publications about the plaintiff,” Judge Kaye found.

“The observer could also apprehend that, as such, Sofronoff considered appropriate to exchange opinions with Mrs. Albrechttsen on specific issues that he had to determine in the investigation.”