Nick Kaldas has all but ruled out taking control of NSW Police when Andrew Scipione retires, as he fumes over a "Soviet-era show trial" into a phone-bugging scandal.
The former senior officer, who was a widely rumoured frontrunner for the top job, says an four year investigation into the scandal descended into a witch hunt against whistle blowers.
"I'm not really in a position where I can say I'd be happy to work for those who are running the show at the moment," Mr Kaldas told 2GB on Wednesday.
"Their behaviour has been absolutely disappointing and they really should hang their heads in shame."
His scathing comments followed the release on Tuesday of an ombudsman's report into allegations of improper surveillance on 113 police officers during an internal police probe between 1998 and 2001.
Mr Kaldas tried in vain to block the report from going public, arguing the investigation targeted those who dared to complain rather than examining the serious wrongdoing they spoke out against.
He is especially angry at Premier Mike Baird and Police Minister Troy Grant over their apparent "hands off" approach to a long-running and costly investigation into the bugging saga.
"This debacle has happened on their watch and they've refused to get involved or even to hear anything about it," Mr Kaldas said from Jordan.
"It doesn't matter wrong it goes, how badly it appears to have gone, what a debacle it is or how much money they've wasted."
He claimed the "inept" inquiry completely ran off the rails and was devoid of any procedural fairness, natural justice or protection for whistle blowers.
Mr Kaldas was found to have given false and misleading testimony in a secret hearing over the scandal.
His long-time rival, NSW Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn, was found to have engaged in unlawful conduct over the deployment of a protected witness in May 1999, who twice broke their bail conditions.
Responding to the report, Ms Burn said she was not the man's minder and had nothing to do with his bail conditions.
Ms Burn also insisted she never sanctioned, authorised or pursued illegal tapping of police officers, and denied any unreasonable or unlawful conduct over the matter.
Mr Kaldas, meanwhile, said he received no thanks after calling an end to his 35-year career and argued officers who remained "get platitudes but no real support".
"I left without a phone call, a text message, an email or a letter from Mike Baird or anybody below him," he said.
"I put my stuff in a box and walked out."
