Prosecutors have dropped their long-running case against former Renewal SA boss John Hanlon on the morning his jury trial was due to start — one day after a District Court judge threw out key evidence against him.
The 64-year-old was first charged with abuse of public office in 2020 after an investigation by then-Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) Bruce Lander KC.
Prosecutors alleged Mr Hanlon billed taxpayers for a trip to Berlin in 2017 so he could see his grandchild being born, and did no official work for Renewal SA, an agency that sells land on behalf of the state government.
Mr Hanlon has always maintained his innocence.
Judge Tim Heffernan yesterday excluded six statements made by German citizens from being presented at trial because ICAC investigators obtained them illegally without the permission of the German government.
It is the second time prosecutors have withdrawn their case against Mr Hanlon.
The charges against Mr Hanlon were dropped in June 2021 after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) conceded there was insufficient evidence.
Three months later, then-senior prosecutor Sandi McDonald KC launched fresh charges against Mr Hanlon in the District Court on the day before she was appointed to the Supreme Court bench.
Outside court today, Mr Hanlon spoke of the emotional toll the accusations had taken on him and his family.
"When you're fighting very senior people in politics and when you're fighting very, very senior people in the DPP, you need to have a strong legal team, you need to have a strong support system behind you," he said.
"I have had that with family."
Pre-trial arguments about German evidence can be revealed
The ABC can now publish the submissions and outcomes of the pre-trial arguments in the case because Mr Hanlon will no longer face a jury trial.
David Edwardson KC, for Mr Hanlon, told the court on Monday that his client would have had no opportunity to challenge or test the German evidence if the statements were put before a jury.
"We're not talking about one witness — we’re talking about the whole of the German component," he told the court.
"The Crown would be able to rely on the accumulative effect of the six statements as a means by which they could advance their proposition and to make good the case against the accused — that my client did not perform any work at all involved in Renewal SA or if he did, it was a token gesture, when the real purpose of his journey was to see his daughter give birth.
"They're trying to get in this evidence in the back door when they can't get it in the front door — it's quite extraordinary."
Prosecutors described the statements as important to their case because they "disputed the truth" of Mr Hanlon's claims to ICAC investigators about meetings he attended while in Berlin.
"The flavour here is very much business records… it's very valuable evidence to the prosecution case," prosecutor Carmen Matteo told the court.
Mr Edwardson also told the court yesterday that a senior intelligence officer at ICAC had analysed phone data for devices belonging to Mr Hanlon, his wife and daughter, but that evidence was never disclosed to defence counsel.
"It's deplorable this evidence wasn't disclosed until Friday," Mr Edwardson said.
He said the data showed his client had been in the vicinity of businesses he claimed to have visited for work purposes while in Berlin.
Ms Matteo said her office also did not receive the data until last Friday and could not make any other comment about it.
Politicians want answers over case
Mr Hanlon and Renewal SA place management general manager Georgina Vasilevski suddenly went on leave in 2018 but the state government could not reveal why because of secrecy laws around the state ICAC.
Charges of deception and dishonestly dealing with documents against the pair were dropped in 2021.
They were never pursued again against Ms Vasilevski.
SA Best MLC Frank Pangallo — who has supported Mr Hanlon throughout his defence — today called for a royal commission into the operations of the ICAC.
"ICAC and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions — two institutions that we should have confidence in — have failed again in this landmark case," he said.
He said Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Ann Vanstone KC and her head of investigations, Andrew Baker — who obtained the German statements against the advice of the Australian consulate-general in Berlin — should resign.
"Mr Hanlon and the other innocent victims of failed ICAC witch hunts can only try and pick up the shattered pieces of their ruined lives … and ruined careers in the public service," Mr Pangallo said.
Attorney-General Kyam Maher will ask the ICAC and the DPP to explain how they handled the case.
"I will be asking for a briefing and a please explain both from the office of the DPP and from ICAC in relation to the conduct of this matter," he said.
An ICAC spokeswoman said Ms Vanstone was on leave and unable to comment
