source : the age
The state’s policing watchdog has cleared former NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb of serious misconduct over the controversial taxpayer-funded purchase of dozens of personalised bottles of gin from a friend’s Hunter Valley distillery.
In findings released on Friday, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) said while Webb, who resigned as commissioner last May, did not personally choose the supplier of the alcohol – known as Commissioner’s Gin – she failed to declare her years-long friendship with Hope Estate owner Michael Hope when she became aware of the potential personal conflict of interest. The controversy plagued the final months of her tenure.
The LECC’s report on Operation Askern – established to investigate an anonymous complaint in September 2023 about Webb’s potential conflict of interest in purchasing the gin – recommended that NSW Police introduce a policy to govern the purchase and distribution of gifts by the commissioner, and consider the appropriateness of alcohol as a corporate gift. Webb axed the gifting policy amid intense pressure following revelations in NSW parliament about the potential conflict of interest.
Webb had authorised the purchase of 50 bottles of the gin at $85 each to be given as gifts to visiting dignitaries, a tradition she inherited from her predecessor, Mick Fuller, when she was appointed NSW’s first female commissioner in 2022. Hope Estate was the same supplier used by Fuller, who had gifted commemorative shiraz bottles.
Webb maintained she did not become aware that Hope Estate had supplied the gin until after the order was placed. She told the LECC she believed she was not required to disclose the purchase of the gin from Hope Estate because the agreement was a pre-existing arrangement, she did not choose the supplier, and that there was nothing about the association that would reflect negatively on NSW Police.
‘I do not have a bottle of the gin nor have I even tasted the gin.’
Karen Webb, in evidence to the LECC
“No official decision of mine was capable of being compromised by the commercial arrangement,” Webb told the LECC.
“I do not have a bottle of the gin nor have I even tasted the gin.”
There was no evidence to suggest Webb knew that Hope Estate was the supplier of the gin until after the purchase was made, the LECC found.
In late 2024, after initially clearing Webb of misconduct, the LECC broadened the scope of Operation Askern into the nature of the relationship between Webb and Michael Hope, a business associate of her husband, and whether it resulted in the then-commissioner engaging in misconduct.
After reviewing text messages and emails between the pair over almost two years, the LECC found that Webb had “understated” her relationship with Hope, but that it did not amount to misconduct.
Webb resigned as commissioner 18 months before the end of her five-year contract after intense criticism of her performance in the role handling major incidents.
NSW Police said it welcomed the findings and would consider the LECC’s recommendations.
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