A very unusual article exposing the Defence Department from
the Canberra Times 13/12/2000
'Thousands of guns stolen' from Defence
Armoury
LINCOLN WRIGHT
Two Commonwealth investigations into the possible theft of up to 5000 guns at the military's national storage depot in Sydney were purposely derailed to protect the image of the armed forces, according to sources close to Defence intelligence.
LINCOLN WRIGHT
Two Commonwealth investigations into the possible theft of up to 5000 guns at the military's national storage depot in Sydney were purposely derailed to protect the image of the armed forces, according to sources close to Defence intelligence.
The investigations began several years ago after Sydney lawyer
and navy reservist Joe Busutill handed down a report alleging widespread
corruption in the navy.
That included the sale of stolen military weapons to a bikie
gang, the pilfering of military material, and the theft of guns in order to sell
them to the Commonwealth under the national gun buy-back scheme.
Some details of the so-called Busutill report were leaked to a
national magazine in late 1997, but nothing came of the investigations until the
issue was raised again just a couple of weeks ago in two secret meetings in
Canberra.
A well-known defence contractor for the navy has come forward
to complain to a federal Labor frontbencher and the Australian Federal Police
about continued corruption at the navy's Garden Island dockyard - corruption he
says the military has known of but done little about.
Several years ago, that same contractor had warned the navy
there were problems with the quality of the refits being done to its ships, as
well as nepotism in the the approval of contracts, and the use of poor-quality
parts to replace high-quality ones.
The first investigation into the stolen guns and other
material was conducted by the Inspector-General of Defence in
1997-98.
He established a joint task force with the AFP and army into
the allegations of theft at the Defence National Storage Distribution Centre,
based at Holsworthy.
Despite some progress, however, sources said the investigation
was aborted after several months and promising leads into the identities of
people involved in the corruption were dropped.
Investigators were continually stymied in their work and
reportedly believed someone was providing advance warning to people they
intended to interview, one source said.
The Inspector-General's inquiry also found that earlier
Military Police investigations had also been hampered by official
interference.
A second investigation in 1998 by the AFP yielded no evidence
for criminal prosecution, a spokesman for the AFP said this week.
A spokesman for Defence Minister John Moore said the the
Busutill allegations were unsubstantiated by the investigations.
But sources told The Canberra Times there was plenty of
evidence of widespread corruption - evidence provided through informants and
others who came forward to give tips to the Inspector-General.
One informant even feared being murdered for talking to the
authorities.
The inquiry suspected senior military officers were involved
in the theft of military material en masse, and disputed the standard
explanation given for missing weapons and equipment, that it was just
"accounting errors".
One senior military officer allegedly received kickbacks to
ignore the thefts, which included several missing 50-calibre machine-guns and
other items that the Busutill report had mentioned.
They included food, computers, and handguns.
The Inspector-General's team also suspected that the NSW
Police Armoury was doing business with the gun repair shop at the depot, and
there had been illegal transfers of weapons between the two
armouries.
One source described the overall climate at the depot in
graphic terms.
"People were just ripping off material and taking it down to
the local auction house," the source said.
Although it is not known exactly what happened to the lost or
missing weapons, guns had also been stolen for personal use and
sale.
Audits of weapons at the depot were inadequate and security
there was non-existent, with trucks leaving the area without being
inspected.
There had also been a lack of cooperation from the Army
Intelligence Service, which held back crucial files on corruption at the depot
from the Inspector-General's team.
The Busutill report was never issued publicly and neither was
the AFP's final report into the matter to the Defence Department.
Re' "thousands of guns
stolen"
matt coffey
Thursday, 14 December 2000
matt coffey
Thursday, 14 December 2000
Lincoln Wright
Re' "thousands of guns stolen"
Dear lincoln perhaps you wonder if this is a typical case of larceny with-in the ranks as is (almost expected)these days or is it a case of various defence related agencies facilitating themselves with "assets required" for defence related issues, with the remainder of the defence force (outside of the provisions of the official secrets act) wearing the blame.In light of the gun buy-back scheme we have not moved very far if x1000's of guns have leaked out the back-door of our own "?" defence force into the community at large.There is definitely more left in this story it deserves further research.
Good report
Regards and the best for the festive season to you,merry christmas...
matt...
