JOHN HAYWARD
Having now read the judgment of Evans J, I am even more baffled. It just seems counter-intuitive that s110 of the Criminal Code Act relating to the disclosure of official secrets would turn out to have no real effect at all.
I was also puzzled that, after citing the indictment naming Lennon, the judgment proceeds on the basis that this didn’t affect Johnston’s discretion to tell Lennon about the investigation. I also had no idea that a public rumour about someone’s misdeeds sufficed to remove the need for confidentiality about an investigation into it. Criminal cases are often launched on the bases of persuasive rumours called prima facie cases.
I’m still trying to square this with the complete secrecy which still surrounds something as seemingly harmless as the reasons for the approval of a pulp mill . Unless, of course, the reasons are of a criminal nature.
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