Haneef inquiry: Police say cannot make submissions public

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Aug 6 (PTI) Australian Federal Police Monday
said it was not in a position to make public their submissions
to the public inquiry into the bungled Haneef probe as most of
the materials were provided by the British authorities.

Without the consent of the U.K. authorities, neither the
police nor retired judge John Clarke who is heading the
inquiry can release the materials, Federal Police Commissioner
Mick Keelty said and asserted that it has "nothing to do with
the A.F.P. refusing to co-operate" with the probe.

"The problem is the material that we've provided to
Clarke, a good proportion of it, belongs to the United Kingdom
authorities and we don't have consent to release that."

"I don't have consent to release that, the organisation
doesn't have consent to release it, nor does Clarke," Keelty
said, according to media reports here.

When asked about the submissions by the Australian
Security Intelligence Organisation (A.S.I.O.) in the case, he
said, "Let's get it clear, the A.S.I.O. submission is very
separate to the A.F.P. submission and its about the police
investigations," he added.

Last week there were reports that the Kevin Rudd
government had put pressure on A.F.P. to make public its
submissions about the Gold Cost-based Indian doctor being
wrongly charged of terrorism in connection with a foiled
bombing plot in London and Glasgow last year.

The A.F.P. had tried to draft a redacted submission that
could be released publicly. "But the redacted submission does
not make sense without the other information being made
available," the police chief said.

To a query if there were differences with Attorney
General Robert McClelland on the issue, Keelty said, "The
A.F.P. would be far better off if we could publicly put our
submission out into both the community and the media but we
can't and it's not within our control to do that or make that
decision."

The A.F.P. would consider any recommendations the Clarke
inquiry made about its practices. "But it hasn't even finished
yet. We've only put our first witnesses before it," Keelty
said adding, "A.F.P. has cooperated fully with the inquiry."

However, he would not confirm whether A.S.I.O. and the
A.F.P. both had the same information when the former decided
that Haneef was not a threat to national security.

"That's a question you'll have to ask A.S.I.O.," he said.

A.S.I.O.'s submission to the Haneef inquiry said it
repeatedly told the federal government and other agencies that
the Indian doctor was not a threat to national security.

Meanwhile, a police officer who interviewed Haneef after
his arrest last year will give evidence at the inquiry
tomorrow.

Detective Sergeant Adam Simms, from Queensland Police,
will appear before Clark, a retired New South Wales Supreme
Court judge. The evidence will be given in private and the
details are unlikely to be made public, media reported here.
PTI