Inspector Dave getting into the ganja … Too many inquiries upsetting for the cabinet secretary … Latest on the Sinodinos saga … Piling up the falsehoods 

What has Inspector Dave been smoking? Where can we get hold of this stuff? 

The controversial former judge in charge of inspecting NSW’s ICAC, David Levine, has fed (Mad Max) Merritt at The Australian, the scoop of his lifetime.  

He told Merritt he thinks it’s unfair that cabinet secretary Arfur Sinodinos should be subjected to two inquiries on the same subject.  

On the strength of his previous statements, and his ultra-conservative views, the inspector gives the impression that there should be no inquiries whatsoever into the Liberal Party, just as there shouldn’t be any into Margaret Cunneen. 

Evidence from ICAC’s Operation Spicer into the party’s illegal political donations has been partially used by the NSW Electoral Commission to make adverse comments about Sinodinos and the money laundromat, the Free Enterprise Foundation – at a time he was the party’s treasurer and chairman of its finance committee. 

Despite protests from the senator, the Electoral Commission has declined to scratch his name from its findings.  

Inspector Dave is quoted by Merritt as saying: 

“Nobody should be in this position where they are confronted by two inquiries on the same subject. The results might be inconsistent, depending on the information that each inquiry had.” 

He thinks the Electoral Commission should have waited until the release of the Spicer report from ICAC – maybe he thinks he’s also the inspector of electoral affairs. 

ICAC has specific powers to examine offences under the Election Funding, Expenditure and Disclosures Act and, of course, so does the Electoral Commission. 

Not even the combined forces of the Murdoch hacks and Inspector Dave will save Arfur Sinodinos. He’ll be stinking-up the Liberals’ election efforts, until PM Turnbull decides it’s time to cut him loose. 

Unfortunately, for the cabinet secretary, The Sydney Morning Herald keeps digging-up more examples of his falsehoods.  

For instance, Sinodinos claimed that a list of potential donors for the NSW state campaign of 2011, which he helped draw up, was used to target moneybags for both the state and the federal election campaigns. 

It’s now come to light that Sinodinos’ donors’ list was created almost three months after the August 2010 federal election. It’s main purpose must then have been for state fundraising purposes, hence the role of the Free Enterprise Foundation to wash illegal donations. 

Then there was his statement to ICAC that he had no knowledge of donations to the party by the crook Australian Water Holdings, of which he was deputy chairman. 

Yet, the party’s chief fundraiser, Paul Nicolaou, was specifically assigned by Arfur’s finance committee to get AWH to contribute to the party’s funds. 

As a AWH director he also lobbied the then  opposition leader, soon to be premier, Barry O’Farrell to support a lucrative government contract for AWH. Barry was not told that if the deal was successful then Arfur stood to trouser $20 million. 

Levine is a favourite rent-a-quote for The Australian in its anti-ICAC mission. At one point Merritt even lodged a complaint about ICAC with the inspector, wanting him to investigate the legality of the commission’s publication of a media release, announcing it had provided the evidence gathered during Operation Hale to the DPP.

Levine sought legal advice on this question, which turned out to be unhelpful for Merritt, yet it shows the extent to which the journalist was pressing the inspector to play with him. 

The latest from Inspector Dave must join some of his other gems, including from his most recent appearance before the parliamentary ICAC committee, where he turned up in clobber borrowed from Geoffrey Edelsten’s wardrobe. 

There he told the pollies that St Margaret, at the time of the Sophia Tilley car crash, was “doing no more than what an ordinary member of the community as a mother would do upon learning of a motor accident involving her son’s girlfriend”. 

Other Levine gems from the transcript are worth noting: 

Basically, Inspector Dave is pushing for more power, for himself. He wants extra resources and more authority to oversight “every step that is taken” by ICAC. 

If only we could hear the Cunneen tapes that Megan Latham gave to the parliamentary committee, then everyone could make up their own minds about whether it’s worthwhile praying to St Anthony.  

St Margaret was recorded as saying to a tow truck driver:  

“Let’s hope that St Anthony does a miracle and takes all the alcohol out of [Sophia’s blood] sample.” 

Another personal favourite to emerge from the taped material was that police officers were bowing to St Margaret, when she arrived at the scene of the car crash, and referring to her “commissioner”.  

Possibly, this is a reason the Australian Crime Commission thought the incident worthy of more investigation. 

Interestingly, a federal corruption, or integrity, commission, is now somewhere in the mix as part of the senate cross-bench negotiations over passage of the Australian Building and Construction Commission Bill.