The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has completed an initial assessment of a complaint relating to use of a private email account by the Honourable Mark Bailey MP.
Due to the strong public interest in this matter, the CCC has determined to provide an update on the assessment.
With the cooperation of Minister Bailey, the CCC’s forensic computing experts were able to retrieve over 30,000 emails. It is important to note many of these emails were from a period of time before Minister Bailey became an elected official and may not be relevant to the ongoing assessment.
The CCC’s jurisdiction in relation to elected officials is limited to conduct that meets the definition of corrupt conduct in section 15 of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001. For elected officials, this is limited to conduct that would, if proved, be a criminal offence.
To assist in determining if any criminal offences may have been committed, the CCC has issued a direction to the Director-General of Premier and Cabinet to work collaboratively with the State Archivist to review the contents of the retrieved emails to determine if any of them constitute a public record as defined by the Public Records Act 2002, and if so, whether the records were dealt with correctly in accordance with the Public Records Act 2002.
The CCC will determine whether to investigate this matter following advice from the State Archivist and the Director-General of Premier and Cabinet. The CCC has requested a report by 15 June 2017.
Whilst the review of the emails occurs, the CCC will not make further comment on this ongoing assessment.
ENDS
