Annual Report - COMPLETE - Australian Crime Commission

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When the ACC attempted to commence the examinations legal representatives for the crew issued proceedings in the Federal Court challenging the ACC’s examinations. The applicants contended that the compulsive investigatory power conferred on the ACC under the ACC Act could not be used to gather evidence if there is a concurrent criminal proceeding. The applicants argued that the compulsive investigatory power therefore terminated upon the bringing of charges or, in the alternative, the power was proposed to be exercised in a manner that was calculated to interfere with the exercise of the judicial power in the criminal proceeding. In addition, the applicants argued that the examinations were for an improper purpose, namely to assist the conduct of the criminal proceeding. This was fully argued before Merkel J. in the Federal Court. Merkel J. dismissed the challenge by the crew members, clearing the way for ACC examinations to be conducted (Hak Song Ra v Australian Crime Commission [2004] FCA 416 (8 April 2004)). A long running civil matter against the ACC and others was finalised in July 2003. A person had instituted civil proceedings against a former Victoria Police officer who had been seconded to the NCA and a Victoria Police fingerprint expert. The applicant claimed that the defendants had fabricated evidence against him and undertaken a malicious prosecution in 1987 when he was tried and convicted on offences relating to drugs, explosives and firearms. The applicant contended that the Commonwealth was vicariously liable for the actions of the seconded officer and that the State of Victoria was vicariously liable for the actions of the fingerprint expert. The matter was heard before Nettle J. over 29 days in the Victorian Supreme Court. In his judgment Nettle J. said he had not seen any evidence capable of establishing the allegations of conspiracy and that the nature of the allegations made them utterly improbable. He said the allegations were baseless and dismissed the plaintiff’s claim. An ex-NCA staff member commenced an action against the NCA claiming she had been discriminated against on the basis of her family responsibilities. In September 2003 the Federal Magistrates Court found that the NCA had unlawfully discriminated against the applicant contrary to sections 14(2) and 14(3A) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cwlth). The applicant was awarded the sum of $54,488 in damages for wage loss, non-economic loss, and special damages. The ACC appealed the decision to the Federal Court and achieved partial success on the appeal. In May 2004, the Court overturned the initial finding that the ACC had unlawfully discriminated against Ms Evans on the ground of her sex. However, the Court rejected the ACC’s assertion that there was no evidence before the Federal Magistrate that the respondent was treated less favourably than a staff member without family responsibilities who took personal leave within his or her entitlement. The sum of $54,488.57 was reduced to $40,579.98. 74 I ACC ANNUAL REPORT 2003–04
In February 2003, the NSW Supreme Court gave judgment to the estate of a former NCA protected witness and the witness’s spouse for equitable compensation of over $403,000, including interest, on the basis of representations the NCA made to the protected witness. The ACC appealed that decision and had partial success before the NSW Court of Appeal. In December 2003, the Court of Appeal reduced the compensation amount to $45,791 including interest. Drug Seizures Following is a table of drugs seized during 2003–04. In some instances drugs were seized by other agencies on ACC information, to protect the integrity of ACC investigations. These seizures are included in the table. Table 4.14: Drug Seizures No of seizures July 2003 – June 2004 Amount seized Units Heroin 22 7,229 grams Cocaine 7 863 grams Amphetamine 36 3,224 grams Cannabis 21 182,681 grams Cannabis, plants 1 70 plants Ecstasy 19 37,180 grams Precursors* 7 1,489,500 grams *Precursors are used in the manufacture of amphetamines and ecstasy Note: one tab of LSD was also seized. Law Reform The major reform for 2003–04 was the enactment of the Australian Crime Commission Amendment Act 2004, which received Royal Assent on 2 April 2004. This legislation chiefly provides amendments to sections 51 and 55A of the ACC Act, and enacted a new section 55D to ensure that the legal transition to the ACC is fully effective. There were technical amendments to the Administrative Decision (Judicial Review) Act 1977 and the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989. ACC ANNUAL REPORT 2003–04 I 75 4 OUTPUT 1.3: INVESTIGATIONS INTO FEDERALLY RELEVANT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
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Guide to this Report This is the Au
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Key Results During 2003-04, the ACC
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CEO Forward I am pleased to present
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8 I ACC ANNUAL REPORT 2003-04 Profi
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The special, coercive powers includ
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on the IGC-ACC, and transmit those
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Table 1.1: Attendance at ACC Board
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ACC Board-Strategic Direction Commi
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The Ombudsman is scheduled to condu
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Senior Executive Team - Directors T
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Local Consultative Committee Local
Page 24 and 25: This framework also details perform
Page 26: Figure 1.3: Business planning and p
Page 29 and 30: Overview of Key Activities The ACC
Page 31 and 32: Feedback indicated the disseminatio
Page 33 and 34: Table 2.2: Output 1.1 - Summary of
Page 35 and 36: Alerts provide timely information o
Page 37 and 38: Information Bulletins The ACC Natio
Page 39 and 40: National Strategic Criminal Intelli
Page 43 and 44: Determination - Amphetamines and Ot
Page 45 and 46: A formal working group consisting o
Page 47 and 48: provided information on the diffi c
Page 49 and 50: Table 3.4: Output 1.2 - ID Crime us
Page 51 and 52: ___________________________________
Page 55 and 56: Determination - Firearms Traffi cki
Page 57 and 58: Figure 4.3: Firearms Traffi cking D
Page 59 and 60: As at 1 June 2004, operations previ
Page 61 and 62: Results include: • significant di
Page 63 and 64: Determination - Established Crimina
Page 65 and 66: Table 4.10: Output 1.3 - SEAOC use
Page 67 and 68: • Viking Task Force: The ACC prov
Page 69 and 70: Coercive powers under the Money Lau
Page 71 and 72: Table 4.13: Output 1.3 - MIDAS arre
Page 73: The purpose of referring that matte
Page 78 and 79: 78 I ACC ANNUAL REPORT 2003-04 The
Page 80 and 81: Intelligence The Intelligence Direc
Page 82 and 83: ACC Media Coordinated by Corporate
Page 84 and 85: Staffing profile The staff of the A
Page 86 and 87: Awards and honours The ACC regularl
Page 88 and 89: Table 5.2 Resources for Outcomes Ou
Page 90 and 91: 90 I ACC ANNUAL REPORT 2003-04 Appe
Page 92 and 93: Appendix A: Financial Statements 92
Page 94 and 95: AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION Stateme
Page 96 and 97: AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION STATEME
Page 98 and 99: AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION SCHEDUL
Page 100 and 101: AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION NOTES T
Page 102 and 103: 1.3 Changes in Accounting Policy Th
Page 104 and 105: 1.7 Leases A distinction is made be
Page 106 and 107: 1.12 Property, Plant and Equipment
Page 108 and 109: Note 2: Adoption of AASB Equivalent
Page 110 and 111: Note 4: Operating Revenues Note 4A:
Page 112 and 113: Note 5E: Write down of assets 112 I
Page 114 and 115: Note 8: Non-Financial Assets (conti
Page 116 and 117: Note 9: Interest Bearing Liabilitie
Page 118 and 119: Note 11: Payables Note 11A: Supplie
Page 120 and 121: Note 13: Cash Flow Reconciliation R
Page 122 and 123: Note 16: Remuneration of Auditors F
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Note 18: Financial Instruments Natu
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Note 18: Financial Instruments (con
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Note 19B: Special Accounts Account
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Note 21B: Major Classes of Departme
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Appendix B: Staffing Statistics Sta
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Table 6B4: Salary bands under the A
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Appendix C: Consultants and Counsel
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Appendix D: Summary of Charges Tabl
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Appendix E: Court Results Table 6E1
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Table 6E1: Court Results - 1 July 2
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Appendix F: Complaints 2003-04 Natu
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Appendix G: FOI Statement Freedom o
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In addition the following documents
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Appendix H: Other Mandatory Informa
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Indexes to Compliance Index to Comp
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Glossary and abbreviations Glossary
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Special intelligence operation or s
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Acronyms and abbreviations used in
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Cybercrime, 16 open source informat
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Offices of the ACC ACC Headquarters
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Annual Report - COMPLETE - Australian Crime Commission

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