Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jun 2001
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Steve Butcher

NCA ACTS ON COVERT DRUG ACTIVITIES

Corrective action had been taken after the discovery that a senior National 
Crime Authority officer had for years been sanctioning illegal drug 
activity without authority, a Victoria Police spokesman said yesterday.

The statement followed a report in The Age yesterday that the NCA's 
Melbourne manager of investigations, William Laing, did not have the power 
to sign certificates that allowed two informers to break the law on behalf 
of investigators.

A Melbourne court heard that six years ago Mr Laing was given a Victoria 
Police ranking lower than that which was legally required for him to sign 
section 51 certificates.

Such certificates authorised NCA informers or agents to "carry out all 
inquiries and obtain all necessary evidence", which indicated offences 
under the Victoria Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act.

When then Victorian Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Neil O'Loughlin swore in 
Mr Laing as a Special Constable in 1995, he should have been given the rank 
of not less than a Senior Sergeant.

When this error was revealed at a recent County Court trial, barristers 
Peter Faris, QC, and Sean Grant, for a man charged with heroin trafficking, 
argued that the alleged drug transactions involved "illegal conduct by 
(NCA) police operatives, informers and agents".

Prosecutor Mark Rochford conceded that Mr Laing was not authorised and that 
it had been "stuffed up", but he argued that no law had been broken because 
the informers did not believe they were committing a crime.

A Victoria Police spokesman told The Ageyesterday that police and the NCA 
had previously tackled the issue so that "the same situation does not occur 
again".

The spokesman said the "procedures have been addressed and reviewed" and 
new procedures put in place.

No future cases would be affected, he said, while on Wednesday a 
spokeswoman for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions said it 
would check if the certificates' issue affected forthcoming trials.

The NCA would not comment.
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MAP posted-by: Beth