Cunneen accuses ICAC officers of taking information without warrant

Senior crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen has accused ICAC officers of seizing her phone without a search warrant.

Margaret Cunneen has filed a complaint against two ICAC inspectors who she claims re-enacted the seizure of her mobile phone after allegedly taking it without a search warrant.

The inspectors Paul Grainger and Tim Fox are also being sued by the Obeid family, The Australian revealed yesterday.

According to the complaint, Cunneen’s phone was seized by Sharon Loder and Fox under a ‘notice to produce’, which is normally used by ICAC to request documents.  But Fox then returned to her home a week later with Grainger and allegedly recorded taking her phone (at which point she claims ICAC had possessed for over a week).

David Levine, an ICAC inspector and former judge, is currently investing Cunneen’s allegations.

The Australian reported that the video is not publically available and that ICAC has declined to meet any requests for comment.

The Obeid family also mentioned Fox and Grainger in their complaint against ICAC, alleging that the inspectors led a raid of their offices and filmed documents relating to private loan agreements which they claim was outside the scope of ICAC’s search warrant.

The ICAC officers have strongly denied the accusation of misfeasance in public office, according to The Australian.

The reports come just months after Cunneen  publically criticised the commission and revealed that her son and his girlfriend may sue ICAC over the way the couple was treated in an investigation into allegations the prosecutor had tried to pervert the course of justice. 

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