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Outgoing DPP Shane Drumgold launches proceedings against ACT board of inquiry
Shane Drumgold, the ACT’s outgoing Director of Public Prosecutions, has commenced legal proceedings against a board of inquiry that made “several serious findings of misconduct” against him.
Naomi Neilson
Mr Drumgold’s case against the board of inquiry has been listed for 14 September in the ACT Supreme Court.
Mr Lehrmann continues to deny the allegations.
Among the most damning findings in the report, Mr Sofronoff found Mr Drumgold “lost objectivity and did not act with the fairness and detachment as was required by his role”.
Mr Sofronoff also found he “deliberately advanced” a false claim of legal professional privilege to keep a document from being disclosed and “preyed” on a junior lawyer’s lack of experience to make a misleading affidavit.
Mr Drumgold resigned from his position shortly after the report was released.
In a statement, Mr Drumgold said he “strongly disputes that I engaged in deliberate or underhanded conduct”.
“Although I accept my conduct was less than perfect, my decisions were all made in good faith, under intense and sometimes crippling pressure, conducted within increasingly unmanageable workloads,” Mr Drumgold said.
“Although I dispute many of the findings of the inquiry, I accept the premature publicity surrounding me means that my office, the courts and most importantly, the ACT public could not presently have faith in the discharge of the functions of the DPP.”
More to come.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
