NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith will go down in history as one of the most corrupt and sleaziest the country has ever seen. He has two major comets heading his way which are currently before the courts. The first being that an alleged major drug trafficker, that Greg Smith let off criminal charges back in 2004 for no explained reason, is due to face court in the near future.
And secondly is that Greg Smith last year instituted defamation proceedings against 2GB radio announcer Ray Hadley in relation to the alleged paedophile priest Father Finian Egan who is a personal friend of Greg Smith’s. This is a matter that Greg Smith cannot allow to go to hearing otherwise he is in a lot of trouble. What makes matters worse for Greg Smith is that we now have a Royal Commission into the sexual abuse of children.
Add this to Greg Smith’s son having his snout in the trough as a lobbyist and the questions that Greg Smith has to answer is growing by the day.
Greg Smith and Father Finian Egan
Greg Smith is accused of saying that a victim of Father Egan was just after money and that she was “just trying to get $1 million from the church.” This allegation was made by another priest. Greg Smith refused to answer direct questions about those allegations.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, where Greg Smith previously worked, mysteriously held up charging Father Egan for 7 months as they were “just waiting for a signature.” And it gets worse “Damien Tudehope is now the Attorney-General’s chief of staff. He too knows Finian Egan well. He attended the priest’s church and as a solicitor defended him against sexual abuse allegations.” I wrote this in a post on the 15th April 2012 titled “Protecting paedophiles the judicial way. Justice Ken Taylor and the Attorney General Greg Smith.” (Click here to read more)
Last year “Mr Smith had threatened to sue Hadley over comments the high-rating radio 2GB presenter made about the Attorney-General’s treatment of paedophiles in April and May.” (Click here to read more)
In September last year Greg Smith did institute defamation proceedings against Ray Hadley which are still afoot in the NSW Supreme Court. This is absolute suicide for the Greg Smith in the same way that Craig Thomson suing Fairfax Media was his downfall becuase it allowed Fairfax to subpoena further evidence.
This all took place before the Royal Commission into child abuse was announced this year. It is my understanding that the Royal Commission will also look at cover-ups of paedophiles which if that is the case Greg Smith is one of the first who should be called to give evidence given the allegations against him. One of the most disturbing things is that Greg Smith as a state Attorney-General had input into how the federal Royal Commission was set up.
The defamation proceedings were set down for a directions hearing on the 1st of February which I attended and has been adjourned until the 1st of March 2013. Without a doubt Greg Smith will be trying to settle the matter ASAP. The problem being is that if Ray Hadley was to settle the matter on favourable terms to Greg Smith, Mr Hadley’s reputation would be greatly damaged one would expect. On the other hand if Greg Smith was to just withdraw the matter from court it would look like an admission of guilt. The Royal Commission has made things all the more dangerous for Greg Smith because who knows what evidence it might uncover.
Greg Smith and James Kinch
Who is James Kinch? He is alleged to have been an accomplice to Mark Standen who was the former 2ic of the NSW Crime Commission and is serving 16years jail for a drug importation attempt after being found guilty in 2011. Another accomplice, Bakhos “Bill” Jalalaty is serving six years jail.
In 2004 the head of the NSW Crime commission, Phillip Bradley, wrote a letter to Greg Smith at the DPP and asked him to drop drug and money laundering charges that James Kinch was then facing after being arrested in 2003. Mark Standen played a role in helping draft the letter. There was no justifiable reason for Greg Smith to drop the charges. Those same charges have been re-instated by the federal police against James Kinch.
In the post I wrote in June 2011 titled “What is the price of freedom? About $900,000 if you are bribing Commissioner Phillip Bradley at the NSW Crime Commission.” Greg Smith is mentioned for his role (when worked at the Director of Public Prosecutions office 2004) in dropping charges against James Kinch so the NSW Crime Commission could get its hands on a $900,000 bribe to let Kinch go. Kinch was in a jail in Thailand awaiting extradition to Australia to face number of charges including the ones that Greg Smith dropped. (Click here to read the post)
James Kinch is now in an Australian jail. In November last year it was reported: “A man who allegedly corrupted former top crime fighter Mark Standen, plotting with him to import enough precursor drugs to make $120 million of the drug ice, has finally been extradited to Australia to face trial.”
“Fairfax can reveal that British national James Henry Kinch was flown to Sydney two weeks ago, after more than four years in a Thai jail.” (Click here to read more) For whatever reason the Australian Federal Police were in no hurry to get Kinch back to Australia.
Greg Smith has plenty of questions to answer on why he dropped the charges against Kinch based on not much more than a letter from his mum and this might come out in Kinch’s trial.
Greg Smith’s son Nathaniel
Nathaniel Smith has his snout in the trough and works for the lobbyist firm Hugo Halliday. Who’s he lobby? The NSW Government where dad works as the Attorney-General.
Bill Pickering, head of Hugo Halliday, said his company never lobbies the Attorney-General in an attempt to remain “ethical”. If they were ethical they would never have employed Nathaniel in the first place. Are we to believe that Nathaniel would never discuss work with dad.
Nathaniel also happens to control branch numbers in the Liberal Party. I bet that comes in handy when dealing with ministers. He sounds like an Eddie Obeid junior in the making. (Click here to read more)
If the Ray Hadley defamation matter was to hit the court for hearing I am sure his counsel would raise the Kinch and Nathaniel issues with Greg Smith in relation to his credibility. Another reason why Smith does not want it to go to trial.
When it comes to corruption it looks like Greg Smith is a person who is going to keep on giving. His days as NSW Attorney-General have to be numbered.
Please spend a minute using Twitter, Facebook and email etc and promote this post. Just click on the icons below.
And make sure you follow this site by email which is on the top right of this page and about once a week you will get an email when there is a new post/story on this site.
This site is fully funded by myself, both time wise and monetary wise. If you would like to support the continuance and growth of this site it would be greatly appreciated if you make a donation.
Thank you for your support.