Bruce Lehrmann has had his property raided as part of a National Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into a “conspiracy” that he allegedly improperly held documents linked to the scrapped French submarine deal.
Lehrmann’s lawyer, Zali Burrows, confirmed the June raid that was first reported by News Corp on Friday morning, but said there was no basis to the allegations and that the former Coalition staffer denied any wrongdoing as the Nacc investigated the “conspiracy”.
Lehrmann’s former media spokesperson, John Macgowan, also had his property raided as part of the investigation.
In posts on X on Thursday night, Macgowan said that the investigation was spurious, but that he had no animosity about it and had found the raids funny.
“They really did show up with 20 guys, and the most emasculating part, was only one of them had a gun. I always imagined when the feds finally raided me there would be assault rifles, not one guy with a tiny Belgian sissy pistol,” he posted.
“They really sent in a sniffer dog, they claimed it was a specialist dog trained to find phones and documents, but he got bamboozled by my bookshelf and the fact there were 20 people holding phones in the house. This actually happened.”
Macgowan had three phones and a laptop seized, news.com.au reported on Thursday night.
“The NACC’s wild conspiracy theory about Bruce holding French submarine secrets is pure fantasy, what’s next he really is 007?’’ Burrows reportedly said in the article.
Macgowan said in the same article that the allegations were an “insane conspiracy” that he believed started when he mentioned them as a joke to a journalist in a conversation that he now understands was recorded.
In a statement, the Nacc said it searched two properties in June.
“On 5 June 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police and New South Wales Police, executed two search warrants, including one at an address in Sydney, in relation to an ongoing investigation,” it said.
“As the matter is ongoing, the Commission will not be making further comment, as to do so may compromise operational activities or unfairly impact reputations.”
Lehrmann, 29, was last month committed to stand trial on rape charges.
He faces two counts of rape, alleged to have occurred in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, in October 2021.
He is yet to enter any pleas but his legal team has previously indicated Lehrmann will defend the charges.
