The public release of an Independent Police Complaints Authority report, expected to criticise the actions of several senior Dunedin police officers, was withdrawn at the 11th hour yesterday when it was discovered not all officers involved had read the report.
The report contains the authority's findings on complaints from Dunedin man Bruce Van Essen and others about the issue and action of search warrants directed at Mr Van Essen and at least three other ACC claimants.
The claimants were being investigated by Dunedin company Mainland Information Consultants, run by former Dunedin detective Peter Gibbons, on behalf of ACC's fraud unit.
Mr Van Essen said the search warrants were obtained and executed in 2006 by Mr Gibbons' son-in-law, Dunedin constable Andrew Henderson.
While anyone can apply to the courts for a private search warrant, it can be executed only by police, who need to be satisfied it is based on credible evidence.
Dunedin police had investigated the matter internally and found that the conflict of interest for Const Henderson, although raised by him, was not adequately addressed by a senior manager, who did not red-flag the contact with Mr Gibbons, Mr Van Essen said.
He understood recommendations from that internal investigation would be considered in the the authority's investigation.
Mr Van Essen had not seen a copy of the authority's report but said he expected it to be critical of the way the conflict of interest and the search warrants were handled.
The complaints were laid with the authority about a year ago.
An authority spokesman said it came to their attention yesterday morning that not all officers referred to in the report had been given an opportunity to see it.
At the conclusion of any investigation the authority could not legally make any comment that was adverse to any person unless that person had been given a reasonable opportunity to be heard, he said.
The officers had been interviewed during the course of the authority's investigations but "being heard" at its conclusion had a specific legal meaning and if it was not done, they could force a judicial review of the investigation.
The authority had asked police to respond within "days" to allow the matter to be concluded as soon as possible, he said.
Mr Van Essen said last night he and the other complainants were disappointed with the delay and hoped it would be released by early next week.
He questioned how the authority could not know the officers had not read the final report, given that it had appeared to be meticulous with every detail thus far.
"We have already waited a year for this. I don't want to have to wait any longer."
