Australia state police force rocked by coup plot

AUSTRALIA: Australia's second largest police force was in turmoil on Friday after accusations of corruption at top levels and a plot to oust its reformist commissioner and replace her with a "puppet".

Three senior officers in the Victoria state police face criminal charges over leaks that compromised an investigation into a detective's involvement in a 2003 murder.

A report by the Office of Police Integrity watchdog told of crime ties and secret manoeuvres to oust Commissioner Christine Nixon, the country's only female police chief, by the three, who include former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby.

"I believe they will be charged," Nixon said on Friday after describing how she felt "betrayed" by the revelations, gathered through secret telephone intercepts. The issue has rocked government and the public in Victoria's state capital Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city, and prompted fresh accusations of widespread corruption.

The Victoria force is already tainted from allegations of police links to a string of brutal tit-for-tat gangland killings that left 28 underworld members dead between 1998 and 2006.

The leaks, the OPI said, were done to discredit and remove Nixon because of jealousy and ambition among her underlings.

Nixon had also infuriated the powerful police union chief Paul Mullett with her drive to modernise the 13,600-strong force, which was founded in 1853.

Mullett, who has pledged to fight the allegations, was accused with Ashby and former police media director Stephen Linnell of engaging in "betrayal, collusion, deceit and abuse of authority".

Mullett wanted a "puppet" commissioner he could control and was "motivated to gain personal power", the OPI said.

"Sworn police with obligations to uphold the law were exposed as individuals prepared to thwart the efforts of other police who were discharging their duties in investigating serious crimes," the report said. Canberra, Friday, REUTERS