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War crimes office has no investigators

A new office set up to build cases against up to 19 alleged war criminals still has no investigators more than four months after it was announced.

Office of the special investigator director-general Chris Moraitis told Senate estimates on Monday said the body, created following the Brereton war crimes inquiry, was unlikely to commence any investigations “for at least a couple of months”.

The OSP currently had 19 personnel, but was yet to bring any AFP agents or state police detectives on board.

Mr Moraitis said he hoped secondments from state and federal police would deliver “some of their best”, with the first investigators starting work within 1-3 months.

He said he hoped to build a team of 75 investigators in time.

Mr Moraitis warned of “legal complexities” in investigating the allegations, because evidence gathered in coercive interviews conducted by Justice Paul Brereton was not admissible in court.

He said the OSP had been working for the past ten weeks with a special counsel from the Australian Government Solicitor, Tim Begbie QC, who was reviewing and “quarantining” evidence obtained through the Brereton inquiry.

“This process will help ensure investigators will only receive information they can lawfully obtain and use in criminal investigations and any future criminal proceedings,” Mr Moraitis said.

“Given the size and complexity of the task, the work of the special counsel is expected to take some time.”

He warned complexity around evidence collection was likely to increase over time, given the alleged offences occurred about a decade ago.