TAKING US FOR A RYDE
In 2012, corrupt politicians driven by greed and seeking retribution, seized control of
I C A C
to engineer ICAC's reckless pursuit of Ryde councillors who'd joined with the community to democratically challenge their $1 billion 'gravy train', Ryde's 'Civic Centre' redevelopment, gifting public assets to a multinational developer and giving ratepayers 'the bird'. They used false and deceptive allegations, manipulated 'whistleblower' laws/protections and were given a helping hand by enablers in Macquarie Street prepared to abuse executive power and conceal serious conflicts of interest. It's a mark of ICAC's rotting internal culture that it chose a matter few remember to do the bidding of those it's reasonably expected to investigate.
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Symptomatic of ICAC's slide into irrelevance, the Ryde episode, featuring a bungled probe into just $4,000 of shared election advertising, came just before ICAC's reckless, failed persecution of crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, which famously earned it a High Court rebuke. On July 12th, 2013, three days before its Ryde inq-
uiry kicked off, ICAC ambushed six Ryde councillors who'd fought the controversial $1bn 'Civic Centre' redevelopment, which in part gifted public assets to a multiinational developer. It accused them of receiving "undisclosed" donations during the 2012 co-
THE AMBUSH
uncil elections - specifically, shared ads worth just $4,000. ICAC leaked this to media, which reported it
ICAC AMBUSHES RYDE COUNCILLORS
without fact-checking. ICAC erred badly. The NSW
EC disclosure deadline was still 2 ½ months away. Despite ICAC's core allegation against the Ryde councillors - included in counsel assisting Jason Downing's opening address on July 15th, 2013 and media statements also issued that day - no longer being sustainable, ICAC chose not to disclose its
THE BUNGLE
mistake and advise the councillors they had no case to answer, or even apologise to them. Instead
ICAC REALISES IT BUNGLED COUNCILLOR ALLEGATIONS
it removed any reference to the allegation in each of its subsequent public statements for an entire year until the day of the release of its Ryde report, on June 30, 2014.
In the media release announcing the release of the
Ryde "investigation" report on June 30th, 2014, ICAC's flawed allegation against the councillors appeared to mysteriously reappear. But the paragraph towards the end of the release was ambiguous - accurately describing the original
THE COVER-UP
unsustainable allegation, as well as a new, different
ICAC COVER-UP AND OBFUSCATION BEFORE SUBSTITUTING NEW ALLEGATION
allegation that required the considerable feat of reading to p58 of the 71-page report to realise was
quietly and deceptively substituted by ICAC without alerting its targets, denying them a right of
response through legal submissions. ICAC's new allegation against the councillors is referred to the
DPP, but 10 months later (April 30th, 2015) ICAC is
forced to seek the NSW Electoral Commission's advice, being the agency with jurisdictional carriage.
DISINGENUOUS INDIGNATION ICAC PRESSURES NSW EC TO PROSECUTE COUNCILLORS
In what can the only be interpreted as an attempt to pressure the
NSWEC, ICAC falsely announces on its website on July 29th, 2015 that the NSWEC will serve
court attendance notices on the six councillors.
A day later, ICAC is forced to correct the statement to advise the NSWEC was "considering the sufficency of evidence".
On 26th August, 2015, NSW Electoral Commission cleared the Ryde councillors following three years of ICAC smear and persecution. The NSWEC notes
COUNCILLORS CLEARED
in its annual report that after review, it did not consider investigating of the allegation to be necessary. Meanwhile, buried in an ICAC
NSW EC CLEARS COUNCILLORS & ICAC INDIRECTLY CONCEDES RYDE INQUIRY A SHAM
Parliamentary Committee annual review of ICAC and the Inspector of the ICAC was a concession by ICAC - which is supposed to pursue serious and systemic corruption only - admitting in its response to a question on notice that in the Ryde matter "no systemic or operational failure is evident."
By Taking Us For A Ryde