A former senior NSW detective says the investigation of a phone-tapping scandal targeting more than 100 police would go to the heart of law enforcement in the state.
Former detective superintendent Brian Harding told a NSW parliamentary inquiry he was humiliated by his name being included on a warrant for surveillance obtained by the NSW Special Crime and Internal Affairs as part of operation Mascot in 2000.
Mr Harding and other people named in the warrant, including current Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas, discovered they were being monitored after copies of the warrant were anonymously mailed to them in 2002.
Mr Harding said there was no basis for him to be included in the warrant and no explanation for the monitoring had been provided when it was issued.
Journalist Steve Barrett, who was also named on the warrant, told the inquiry he believed the tapping was part of a "square-up" campaign by one group of officers to target rivals for promotion.
Strike Force Emblems was mounted to investigate allegations that warrants for the phone taps were obtained using false and perjured information, but the result has not been made public.
Ombudsman Bruce Barbour was subsequently tasked with investigating the matter, and now the NSW Upper House is examining his handling of the case.
Mr Harding, who served in the police for 37 years before resigning in 1996, attacked the ombudsman's office over its investigation, saying it was more interested in how whistleblowers obtained leaked copies of the warrants than investigating how the phone taps were set up.
Mr Harding said investigations of Mascot and Emblems had been politically motivated and done in secret because the case was a political "hot potato".
In a statement, Mr Harding said any investigation of his complaint "will go to the heart of law enforcement in NSW and will have to examine the conduct of former commissioners Ryan and Moroney as well as the current commissioner, Andrew Scipione, in his former role as commander of SCIA".
He said the investigation would also involve Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn, who also worked at SCIA.
The ombudsman has rejected suggestions that whistleblowers had been treated "in some form of oppression".
The hearing continues on Friday.
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