Hankin Redden Blog

November 09, 2024

90 The Ombudsman Denies It Acted Corruptly (5): 9 November 2024

In this blog, I finish my summary of the criminal offences that I believe took place at the Ombudsman. Because I am not a criminal lawyer, there are undoubtedly other crimes that probably took place. Identification of those additional offences can be delegated to those with more criminal law experience.

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Making False or Misleading Statements (2)

Section 137.1 of the Criminal Code is similar to but different from section 136.1. Section 137.1 is headed “False or misleading information or documents”. Section 137.1 is headed “False or misleading information”; it says this.

(1) A person commits an offence if:

(a) the person gives information to another person; and

(b) the person does so knowing that the information:

(i) is false or misleading; or

(ii) omits any matter or thing without which the information is misleading; and

(i) the information is given to a Commonwealth entity;

(ii) the information is given to a person who is exercising powers or performing functions under, or in connection with, a law of the Commonwealth;

(iii) the information is given in compliance or purported compliance with a law of the Commonwealth.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months.

The difference between section 136.1 and 136.7 is that whereas section 136.1 applies to false or misleading statements made in connection with “an application or claim for a benefit”, section 137.1 applies more generally to situations where the false or misleading information is given to someone “who is exercising powers or performing functions under, or in connection with” a law passed by the Australian Parliament.

Section 137.1 means that anyone who lies to an Ombudsman staff member carrying out official Ombudsman duties, commits a crime.

I believe it is certain that as yet unidentified people acting on behalf of HCF and/ or other health insurers made false and misleading statements to the Ombudsman knowing that these statements were false.

Obviously someone in HCF falsely told the Ombudsman that claims for insurance benefits payable under our HCF policy for services provided to Margaret by Lift had not been paid because Lift had been requested to provide additional information, but had failed to provide it.

In my opinion, it is highly likely that people who are as yet unidentified but who were officially acting on behalf of HCF, gave information to the Ombudsman knowing that the information they gave was false or misleading.

In the alternative, in my opinion it is highly likely that people who are as yet unidentified but who were officially acting on behalf of HCF, gave information to the Ombudsman knowing that the information in question omitted “matters or things” without which the information was misleading. The Ombudsman could not have decided that HCF had asked for and not been provided with relevant information about Margaret’s Lift treatment claims, unless there had been an offence under section 137.1 of the Criminal Code.

Unless HCF had made false or misleading statements, it would have been impractical for the Ombudsman to dismiss my complaints – no matter how much some of the Ombudsman staff wanted to dismiss every complaint concerning a refusal by the health insurers to pay for services provided by Lift.

Unless false or misleading statements were made to the Ombudsman on behalf of HCF, the 5 April 2022 email could not have been sent.

Abuse of Public Office

Section 141.2 of the Criminal Code makes it a crime for an Australian “public official” to misuse his or her powers as a public official. Section 142.2 is headed “Abuse of public office” and it says this.

(1) A Commonwealth public official commits an offence if:

(a) the official:

(i) exercises any influence that the official has in the official’s capacity as a Commonwealth public official; or

(ii) engages in any conduct in the exercise of the official’s duties as a Commonwealth public official; or

(iii) uses any information that the official has obtained in the official’s capacity as a Commonwealth public official; and

(b) the official does so with the intention of:

(i) dishonestly obtaining a benefit for himself or herself or for another person; or

(ii) dishonestly causing a detriment to another person.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.

The dismissal of the multiple complaints I and others made to the Ombudsman was so perverse that no reasonable decision maker could have acted in this manner. The stench of possible corrupt conduct is extremely strong.

I believe it is probable that someone working at the Ombudsman acted “dishonestly causing a detriment” to Margaret and myself. It was rationally and legally impossible for our complaints to have been dismissed in the manner that they were - unless someone at the Ombudsman committed the offence created by section 141.2(1).

An in depth investigation by the Australian Federal Police would be needed to establish if there is enough evidence lay charges for offences in breach of subsection (1) of section 141.2 of the Criminal Code.

I believe multiple breaches took place.

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