ACT government rejects calls for detailed review of Shane Drumgold cases

On Monday, Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury formally released the findings of an inquiry that resulted in the resignation of top prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC.

Chairman Walter Sofronoff KC's damning conclusions about Mr Drumgold's conduct during the prosecution of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann had earlier been leaked to selected journalists.

The subsequent publicity about Mr Drumgold, who was found to have lied in court and to have improperly tried to keep documents from defence lawyers, resulted in calls for the government to review his other cases.

As it unveiled the inquiry's findings, the government said it had already looked at the 18 criminal cases Mr Drumgold conducted, or participated in, since being made director in 2019.

The examination found Mr Drumgold had almost exclusively appeared in appeal matters since his appointment to the top job, "meaning that the facts and evidence had already been determined and what was in issue was the findings or sentence based on those facts".

"He appeared at first instance, or was briefed to appear at first instance, in only three matters," the government said.

Two of those cases did not involve any significant dispute between the parties, with one resulting in a guilty plea.

The other involved a recent murder trial, which was re-briefed to a private barrister before it began.

"Therefore, on the material available at this point, the government does not consider that a more detailed examination is warranted," a statement issued on Monday said.

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"Defendants in historic [sic] and current matters have the opportunity to raise any specific concerns through existing judicial processes."

ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said Mr Barr and Mr Rattenbury spent too much of their Monday press conference blaming Mr Sofronoff for leaking the findings rather than discussing them.

"There are still a number of questions to be answered by the Chief Minister and Attorney-General regarding the 'preliminary review' of prosecutions undertaken by Mr Drumgold and the circumstances surrounding his resignation," she said.

Canberra lawyer Paul Edmonds also called for more to be done in light of revelations Mr Drumgold had wrongly claimed legal privilege over crucial police documents.

"I am seeking, as a bare minimum, an independent audit of all indictable matters handled by [Mr Drumgold]'s office where non-disclosure occurred as a result of a claim for privilege, to ensure that the same mistake has not occurred in other matters," Mr Edmonds said.

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