Source : Perth Now news
The federal government’s special investigator for war crimes allegations has referred “unauthorised” media leaks regarding the arrest of alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith to the nation’s peak anti-corruption body.
Mr Roberts-Smith was arrested on April 7 at Sydney Airport while disembarking from a flight from Brisbane.
He was subsequently charged with five counts of the war crime of murder allegedly committed while he served in the Australian Special Air Services in Afghanistan.
Mr Roberts-Smith vehemently denies the allegations.
But on Tuesday evening, officials from the Office of the Special Investigator – an agency tasked with probing war crime allegations – were grilled on the presence of news crews at the scene of Mr Roberts-Smith’s arrest.
OSI director-general Chris Moriaitis told a Senate estimates hearing that his office became aware of the issue after seeing media “on the morning (of Mr Roberts-Smith’s arrest), around various places”.
“It’s a matter that concerns me. The media seem to have been privy to things, and therefore we’re taking steps to ascertain what happened there,” Mr Moraitis said.
He has since escalated the matter to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in a referral co-written with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) over what he believes are “unauthorised disclosures”.
“It surprised me that would happen because we’ve usually been pretty good on keeping a low profile,” he said.
The NACC has yet to respond to Mr Moraitis’ request.
Earlier in the hearing, Mr Moraitis said his office had informed Attorney-General Michelle Rowland’s office, as was standard practice, ahead of the SAS veteran’s arrest on April 7.
This did not include details like the location of the arrest.
In an April 19 statement, Mr Roberts-Smith referred to his encounter with the Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport as an “unnecessary spectacle” and described it as a “deliberate, sensational arrest”.
Footage of his arrest was circulated to major news outlets after being captured by AFP media officers.
