Mr Rudd’s lawyer had told him the CASA was prepared to drop the charges if he didn’t seek costs against them. He decided not to spend any more money on the matter, but did not sign any agreement not to pursue CASA for costs.
He had not been told that the case against him had been or would be dropped. It was left to him to visit the Magistrate’s court and obtain a document that recoded that “the defendant entered no plea” and “The Magistrates Court ordered STRUCK OUT.”
However on Sept 14 2008 Mr Rudd filed a complaint against the various officials with CASA’s Industry Complaints Commissioner Michael Hart, alleging criminality in some of the officials’ actions. Mr Hart responded on Dec 19 2008 that he had provided a report on the matter to (then) CASA CEO Bruce Byron, with a recommendation that the matters be referred to the Australian Federal Police, and advising that the matter had in fact been handed over to the AFP.
On Nov 7 2008 Mr Rudd advised Mr Byron that: “I have lodged documents with the Australian Federal Police with a view to Criminal charges being laid against CASA employees, for perjury, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and misfeasance in public office. And they were certainly negligent and failed in their duty of care towards me as CASA ‘client’”
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On 19 Dec 2008 he received a letter from the AFP which explained that matters referred to the AFP often exceed that organisation’s capacity to investigate. It stated:
The AFP was advised during the evaluation of this matter that your complaint has also been referred to CASA and the AFP has been advised that this matter would not be accepted for further investigation.”
Huh ? So the AFP is not going to investigate this or they are going to follow CASAs investigation brief ?
I'm not a 'CASA basher' , I've never had a problem with them , I even got my PC6 Porter training and endorsement from an examiner that had a few thousand hours on the PC6 (he was ex Army) who went out of his way to do it but I have heard a lot of horror stories like this on the maintenance and operations side 20 yrs ago where things get personal and professionalism goes out the window on both sides. This is a throwback to the days of no accountability for throwing around the weight and power of a large authority.
If government officials are covering each other with sworn statements about things they didn't see or know to be false to prosecute an innocent citizen as payback for some bad langauge this is a serious matter and should be treated like one.
Make sure you don't have a screwdriver or pocket knife in your hand when doing a pre-flight inspection !
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