26 customs and border staff on previous charges

A CORRUPTION watchdog report into the former Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, now Australian Border Force, has revealed a group of 26 customs and border officers and their associates had faced charges in just a few years and another five were investigated but not charged.

The report, by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity’s (ACLEI) former commissioner Philip Moss, which has been kept under wraps for eight years, warned that “it will take a long time, perhaps a decade, to entrench the required professional standards.

It details how Operation Heritage investigated a small group of Australian Customs and Border Protection staff at Sydney International Airport suspected of corruption and abuse of their positions

A subsequent AFP investigation Operation Marca widened the probe to their criminal associates and their actions.

Eight customs officers were charged and seven were convicted with crimes including providing false information, aiding drug precursor importations, receiving bribes, and dishonestly influencing a public official.

Mr Moss revealed that in just two years another 18 associates had been charged.

“A further five ACBPS officers faced disciplinary action. I regard these actions – including the prosecution of perjury offences arising from the Integrity Commissioner’s hearings – to be an important part of achieving cultural change in the ACBPS,” Mr Moss wrote.

A response on behalf of the Australian Border Force said: “It is important to note, for the record, that a significant period of time has elapsed between the investigation … and the publication of this report. The ACBPS has undergone a significant change in structure … and the ABF has also undertaken a significant body of work aimed at targeting criminal infiltration of the supply chain at our borders.”

Former officers convicted of offences in the past few years include:

George Filewood, who pleaded guilty to corruptly disclosing official information to assist a drug importation syndicate and was sentenced to six months’ jail – suspended upon him entering into a good behaviour order for nine months.

Former ABF officer Craig Richard Eakin, who was convicted and jailed for four years for helping a syndicate smuggle illegal tobacco and cigarettes from Dubai into the country.

Former customs and Border Protection Service officer Johayna Merhi who pleaded guilty and was jailed for four and a half years with non-parole of two and half years for helping smuggle tobacco and dealing with proceeds of crime.

Former customs officer Christopher Cranney who was sentenced to 14 years’ jail with a non-parole period of 8 years and 9 months, for conspiring to import pseudoephedrine from Vietnam in 2012.

Former customs officer Adrian Paul Lamella, who pleaded guilty to receiving bribes and was sentenced to four years’ jail.

Paul John Katralis, 26, a customs officer from Menai, who pleaded guilty to helping import precursor drug pseudoephedrine and jailed for four years.

Svetlana Colakovic, 35, Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, from Caringbah, who pleaded guilty to three charges of dishonesty including providing information to a customs officer who was convicted of accepting a bribe.