Napthine Cash Claim 'malicious'
The Age
Friday June 27, 2008
VICTORIAN horse racing's new corruption watchdog has vehemently denied having accepted cash from a convicted drug dealer to do private detective work, saying the allegations are part of a malicious campaign to destroy his reputation and force him out of the industry.
Former detective Dayle Brown, chosen last week to head Racing Victoria's integrity services unit, said through his lawyers that he had nothing to hide.But the Opposition's racing spokesman, Denis Napthine, who raised the allegations in Parliament on Wednesday, last night renewed his call for a judicial inquiry into Mr Brown's past, "to clarify the situation once and for all".Dr Napthine said there had been allegations that Mr Brown and a former colleague, while serving police officers, had accepted $30,000 from "convicted drug dealer Paul Pavlovski to undertake private investigations".Mr Brown has previously admitted that he helped Pavlovski track down his wife and children in South Australia in 1994. But his lawyers, Voitin Walker Davis, said in a letter to Dr Napthine yesterday that at the time Pavlovski had no criminal convictions and it was only some years later that he had been convicted of being in possession of a drug. They said the allegations about a $30,000 payment were completely without foundation.The only time a reference had been made to $30,000 being offered by Pavlovski was when Mr Brown was interviewed by two Queensland police officers in 1995. One of the officers had said to Mr Brown: "There had been suggestions, and I am not directing this to you, that there had been some suggestion that Paul had offered $30,000 for someone to find his wife." Mr Brown replied: "He may have elsewhere. I don't know. But it certainly was not to us."Mr Brown's lawyers said he never heard of the matter again until Dr Napthine's comments. They accused Dr Napthine of making "scurrilous and serious allegations under cover of parliamentary privilege with the deliberate view of attempting to have (Mr Brown's) character blackened and his employment terminated". They challenged Dr Napthine to "do the honourable thing and to publicly correct your erroneous and defamatory statements and to apologise to our client" or repeat the statements outside Parliament. Dr Napthine said last night that serious allegations had been raised and warranted a full judicial inquiry. Racing Minister Rob Hulls said the issue now was Dr Napthine's integrity.KEY POINTS ? Dayle Brown strongly denies a criminal cash allegation.? Mr Brown's lawyers want Opposition racing spokesman Denis Napthine to retract the claim.? Dr Napthine wants an independent investigation.
© 2008 The Age
