Queensland taxpayers have spent about $ 75,000 to fund the state’s corruption watchdog bill, which fights lawsuits filed by former Deputy Prime Minister Jackie Trad.
Key points:
- It is not known if the report draws any conclusions against Jackie Trad
- CCC’s litigation costs were revealed after a private meeting of the PCCC
- The taxpayers also finance some or all of Mrs Trad’s legal costs – these remain unknown
The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has incurred the costs of a lawsuit initiated by Ms Trad in the Supreme Court to have a CCC report suppressed from being published.
It is not known whether the report draws any conclusions against Mrs Trad.
The CCC document released today shows that the total cost of external legal fees from May 2021 to May 5 this year is $ 74,137.01.
About $ 42,006.25 has been paid for the junior advisor and $ 32,130.76 for the senior advisor.
An additional $ 1,468.50 of internal costs have also been spent on transcripts of court hearings and litigation.
It is stated that the CCC informed the senior lawyer Peter Dunning QC and the junior lawyer Matthew Wilkinson to represent it in connection with the judicial review brought by the applicant on 24 May 2021.
The CCC’s litigation costs were revealed following a private meeting of the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC) this afternoon.
The decision to release the costs was to be made at a meeting on Thursday, however was delayed after four Labor MPs failed to attend.
Their non-participation meant that the meeting was quorate and could not continue.
The chairman of the PCCC, LNP member Jon Krause, told reporters on Thursday that it was “disappointing that members of the government have not found it appropriate to attend to integrity issues in Queensland”.
Labor MPs also blocked attempts to disclose CCC’s litigation costs in May because the case was ongoing.
The taxpayers also finance some or all of Mrs Trad’s legal costs – these remain unknown.
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