SUSPENDED Tasmanian police commissioner Jack Johnston will take early retirement and all complaints against him will be withdrawn.
The Weekend Australian has learned that a process of conciliation between Mr Johnston and his accusers, including Director of Public Prosecutions Tim Ellis, has ended with Mr Johnston deciding to retire and the complainants withdrawing their accusations.
Criminal charges against the 60-year-old police chief were thrown out by the courts late last year, but he still faced a separate inquiry into related code of conduct complaints made by Mr Ellis and others.
The complaints, like the failed prosecution, centred on Mr Johnston’s conduct in allegedly revealing details of a police investigation involving government figures to then premier Paul Lennon in April 2008.
Mr Johnston denies all of the complaints except for one. He has admitted to The Weekend Australian the truth of a complaint that he threatened retribution against officers investigating him, although he insists this occurred in the “heat of the moment”.
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