ICAC hearing delayed as tapes submitted

An ICAC hearing has been delayed after Commissioner Megan Latham submitted "huge volumes" of material related to the ill-fated Operation Hale.

A scathing report on ICAC's investigation into crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen was "fundamentally flawed", an NSW parliamentary inquiry has heard.

ICAC Commissioner Megan Latham called on the committee examining the corruption watchdog to withdraw or disregard the report by ICAC inspector David Levine - which described the Cunneen investigation as a "low point" in its history.

"The report is so lacking in a proper factual foundation and infected by a denial of procedural fairness that it should be withdrawn," Ms Latham said in her opening statement on Thursday.

The ICAC chief urged the committee to allow her to tender the phone intercept audio which prompted the ill-fated investigation into allegations Ms Cunneen had attempted to pervert the course of justice.

But committee chairman Damien Tudehope adjourned the inquiry for a week to consider legal advice on whether the sensitive phone-tap material should be tendered and potentially released to the public.

Much of the material was only received by the committee 36 hours ago and there was not enough time to consider it, he told the packed public hearing.

That material included two volumes of documents submitted to the inquiry, which Ms Latham said "undermine the basis for the adverse findings" in Mr Levine's report and show that he reached "unreasonable conclusions".

"The Inspector had a duty to provide procedural fairness to Commission officers who could be adversely affected by the Report. He failed to do so," her written submission says.

The potentially explosive phone intercepts, which document a conversation Ms Cunneen had about a traffic accident involving her son's girlfriend Sophia Tilley, have never been made public.

It's alleged Ms Cunneen gave Ms Tilley advice to fake chest pains in order to avoid a breath test after a car accident.

Ms Cunneen challenged the investigation, and the High Court later ruled the commission had acted beyond its powers.

In his report, Mr Levine backed those findings and slammed ICAC as unjust, unreasonable and oppressive in its pursuit of Ms Cunneen.

The public hearing will resume on February 19.


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