Sue Neales Mercury
FORMER State Labor minister and Tasmanian Compliance Corporation director John White appeared before a rushed sitting of the Supreme Court on Thursday over a secret deal he signed to have his legal fees paid. The surprise special hearing was requested by Mr White’s defence counsel to explain to Chief Justice Peter Underwood why the Supreme Court had not been told the previous day of a secret arrangement that would defray most of Mr White’s legal costs. On Thursday, the Mercury reported the existence of a deed of agreement signed by Mr White and the two other part-owners of the TCC in March to divide the remaining cash assets of the private building accreditation business between themselves. As part of the deal, the three men received $100,000 each, with an extra $60,000 set aside in a special trust fund to pay Mr White’s future legal expenses. A condition set on the paying of Mr White’s legal expenses from funds accumulated out of accreditation fees collected from Tasmania’s builders, architects and building engineers was that Mr White must not end up being convicted of any crime. At the time, he had been charged with the twin criminal offences of conspiracy and attempting to interfere with an executive officer of the Crown over a secret deal to hand the TCC a three-year government monopoly with former Deputy Premier Bryan Green. Mr White, who pleaded guilty last month to the sole criminal charge of attempting to interfere with an executive officer of the Crown after the charge of conspiracy was dropped, appeared for sentencing in the Supreme Court last Wednesday. Read more here
