A Surreal CCC Scenario?

A $70 million “Offence” propagator?

The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) presumably sets out to detect serious criminal offences, but the Desert Rat thinks they manufacture more offences than they find. The CCC seems to be creating work for itself; work that will further clog up our overloaded justice system.

Instead of pursuing real corruption, the Crime and Corruption Commission seems to be preoccupied with their pursuit of high profile political figures.

For example, the recent Smith’s Beach inquiry report found no criminal or corrupt behaviour or misconduct by the main parties involved, except for alleged misconduct by a few public servants who were soft targets. The Desert Rat believes those charges are unlikely to have much effect, except to wantonly destroy the careers of those public servants.

The behavioural pattern has developed over two decades in WA. Having wasted good money and effort, the CCC in this case, then looked for any errors or mistakes in the evidence and charges witnesses with giving false evidence - a criminal charge; even where witnesses have endeavoured to truthfully answer questions.

First the ruse of some “misconduct” is used so that the people and premises are electronically "wired" for the interception of phone calls, faxes, emails and private even intimate conversations. The fishing expedition continues with raids on their houses and offices and the seizure all their files and records. They trawl over the seized records for months.

Then public humiliation follows by the public questioning of them in what appear to the public as “show trials”. The questioning is about perfectly lawful matters which should generally be none of their business, in such a way as to make them look corrupt. Exculpatory matter is not aired. They don’t give the “enemies of the State” any forewarning about what the questioning is to be directed at, so that they cannot go through their (often seized) files to prepare for the questioning (public humiliation). Concomitant with this process can be the harassment of associates and family by various mean - all possibly to intimidate and keep the pressure on. The Desert Rat thinks this is a sophisticated form of playground bullying.

The public questioning may relate to any of thousands of emails, letters, phone conversation, meetings and events. If the inquiry does not find any criminal offence or misconduct then they look for something else to justify the enormous waste of taxpayer’s money. If you haven’t resorted to the use the celebrated Carmen Lawrence defence “I don’t recall” and you make an honest mistake, or get it wrong, then you are charged with a criminal offence of lying to the CCC – there is no such thing as a mistake of faulty memory.

The Desert Rat can’t remember what he had for breakfast yesterday but I can hazard a guess - like hell "I don't recall".

Writers such as Albert Camus “The Outsider” and Franz Kafka “The Castle” would have had a wealth of material from these insidious processes.

The Crime and Corruption Commission have now managed to "manufacture" a number of “offences committed“, that did not exist before they started their inquisition – all at the great cost of $70 million and in the "public interest".

Does this behaviour and the rooting out of these"un-West Australian activities" really justify their existence and the cost to the public purse?

Meanwhile back at the fortified motorcycle gang headquarters, it business as usual. The low life that supplied expensive drugs to our football heroes continue their trade and crooked police compromise and isolate honest cops who continue to leave the force in droves.