OzCar - blinded by a mole?

The Abetz FOI request led Treasury to search its system for any email relating to a representation from the PM’s office on behalf of John Grant. According to evidence by David Martine, Grech’s boss, at a later Senate hearing (June 19) no such email could be found. Grech himself was said to have been involved in the search.

The “fake” email therefore lay dormant until Malcolm Turnbull made a cryptic reference to it during what he called a “private conversation” with Dr Andrew Charlton at the Press Gallery’s Mid Winter Ball on June 17. Mysteriously this “private conversation” was photographed not by any journalist or photographer present, but on the Prime Minister’s personal Blackberry. Twenty-four hours later the photograph was widely published along with claims that Turnbull had “bullied” Charlton.

Two days later Godwin Grech was called to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee along with his superior officer David Martine, the General Manager of the Financial Systems Division, Treasury. Viewers of the Sky News APAC telecast or readers of Hansard could testify that Grech did not behave in the manner of someone who had colluded in advance with members of the Opposition as media reports later claimed (Daily Telegraph, June 25). In fact he approached his duty with some trepidation for quite different reasons. That morning he was reported to have sent Treasury Secretary Ken Henry an email advising that senior News Ltd journalist Steven Lewis had phoned him four times the day before seeking a copy of the email allegedly sent to Grech by Dr Andrew Charlton. Where Lewis had received his information is not known but Grech himself was aware that David Martine was briefed to deny its existence. Yet Grech told Henry he had denied to Steve Lewis matters that he would feel obliged to reveal when questioned by the Senate Committee. Labor Senators seemed to be aware of this admission during the hearing because Senator Cameron asked questions about what Grech had told Lewis.

The Committee was ostensibly reviewing the “Car Dealership Financing Guarantee Appropriation Bill 2009”. Much of the time allocated to the inquiry on the morning of Friday, June 19 was taken up by a series of questions from Liberal Senator Eric Abetz (Tasmania) and frequent interruptions by Labor Senators Doug Cameron and Louise Pratt with some sideline commentary from Senator Barnaby Joyce.

The Chair (Labor Senator Annette Hurley) proved unable to contain the volatile Cameron. She did however assist Grech’s superior officer David Martine in his persistent and blatant efforts to stop Grech from answering questions. In effect Martine insisted that as the senior Treasury official the committee should accept his assurance that no email from Dr Charlton in relation to John Grant existed.

Grech on the other hand seemed determined to place on record his recollection that he had received such an email. He said for example: “My recollection is the Treasurer’s Office alluded to Mr Grant at least being some type of associate of the Prime Minister’s.”

Then, under further pressure came the now notoriously equivocal statement “my recollection may well be totally false or faulty, but my recollection - and it is a big qualification - but my recollection is that there was short email from the PMO to me which very simply alerted me to the case of John Grant, but I do not have the email”.

Again when after numerous interventions he was allowed to answer he acknowledged that in the last 24 hours “As diligent a search as possible” to trace the elusive email had been undertaken. But then he went on to say: “But, and I do not hide from this, it was certainly my understanding that the original representation with respect to Mr Grant came from the Prime Minister’s Office.” And furthermore he said he had done nothing about that representation for the simple reason that the Treasurer’s Office was already urging him to assist John Grant.

Grech was prevented from answering further questions in which Senator Abetz tried to jog his memory by quoting from the purported text of an email from Charlton. “I have to defer to seniority of Mr Martine on that issue”, he said.

Various emails between Grech and the Treasurer’s Office had been tabled at the beginning of the committee’s deliberations. These dealt with the process resulting in Grant’s mobile phone number being given to the CEO of Ford Credit during a meeting to discuss the $500 million loan Ford Credit was seeking from the government. Much of Grech’s evidence from the June 19 hearing was consistent with and elaborated on those emails. Strangely none of that evidence has been queried.

Late in the day (June 19) the Prime Minister held a press conference rejecting Malcolm Turnbull’s call for his resignation and asserting that whatever email Steve Lewis intended to publish the following day must be fake. A diligent search of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Treasury systems he had been advised, showed no such email existed and the version that was claimed to exist must be a fake.

Not much more than 48 hours later, after a raid on Godwin Grech’s home in the Canberra suburb of Calwell the AFP was announcing that “the email referred to at the centre of this investigation has been created by a person or persons other than the reported author”. In other words the police found an email that was not created by Charlton. That of itself does not make the email fake. So who did create it, when was it created and what did it say? Unfortunately the leaks about the AFP investigation have not extended to this detail.

We may have to wait until Godwin Grech or some other person is charged with specific offences or for the report by the Auditor-General expected at the end of July before we are enlightened. Only then might we begin to understand why a very senior, widely respected public servant of 20 years experience would insist on putting his recollection of a “fake” email on the public record under oath, especially if he himself had any part in “faking” the document.

Perhaps we can take our lead from the Delphic utterance from Treasury Secretary Ken Henry when ambushed by the media. “All will be revealed,” he was quoted as saying.