An officer of Western Australia’s corruption-fighting body corruptly used her position to have a protracted and intimate relationship with one of her informants, the body’s overseer has revealed.
In a report tabled to parliament on March 21, Matthew Zilko SC, the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission, found the woman—referred to as LC—“went rogue” and engaged in serious misconduct.
A parliamentary committee referred LC to WA Police for abusing the body’s “extraordinary powers” and her position as Human Source Co-ordinator.
“The officer’s conduct was extremely serious, potentially dangerous and involved a gross breach of trust,” committee chair Matthew Hughes said in the report.
She became the handler of the male informant, referred to as X, in 2018, despite procedure specifying that informants be managed by two handlers who are the same sex as them.
By 2021, their relationship had become intimate.
LC was at the time undergoing marital difficulties and seeing a psychologist to help with her loneliness and to communicate with her husband, but her suitability to be X’s handler was not evaluated by senior management as required by protocol.
During their ensuing relationship, LC “repeatedly and wilfully breached the commission’s policies, procedures and Code of Conduct,” the report found.
She had an “extreme” level of contact with X, including 1905 audio messages and 7413 phone calls between October 2018 and March 2023.
Handlers are required to record all conversations with informants but in 2022, LC spoke to X for 437 hours while recording only 28 hours.
LC also engaged in misconduct by disclosing to X official information, the names of commission officers, and the name and location of a person who had made an anonymous allegation to the commission.
The commission dismissed LC after her breaches were uncovered in January 2023.
How LC’s misconduct was able to continue for three years will be examined in a review currently being undertaken into the commission’s policies and procedures.
“While it could be said that the officer did ‘go rogue’, and her line manager’s supervision was inadequate, the investigation exposes serious weaknesses in how the commission managed its misconduct risks and Human Source Team, and raises questions regarding the effectiveness of that team,” Mr Hughes said.
“The officer’s conduct also raises questions about the effectiveness of the Human Source Team.”
