War crimes investigator and AFP ask corruption commission to probe Ben Roberts-Smith leak

The federal government’s special investigator for war crimes allegations and the Australian federal police have asked the anti-corruption commission to investigate media leaks about the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith . Arrested at Sydney airport on 7 April, the Victoria Cross recipient faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan. The former SAS corporal has vehemently denied the charges , saying “I categorically deny all of these allegations”. Chris Moraitis, the director-general of the Office of the Special Investigator, told Senate estimates on Tuesday night he was surprised journalists had prior knowledge of the arrest, conducted jointly with the federal police. The two organisations have referred possible unauthorised disclosures to the National Anti-corruption commission (Nacc) and are awaiting a response. Asked how the media found out about the pending arrest ahead of time, Moraitis said: “Good question.” “It’s a matter that concerns me. The media seem to have been privy to things, and therefore we’re taking steps to ascertain what happened there.” Under questioning by Liberal senator Dave Sharma, Moraitis said his office was aware of journalists present on the morning of the arrest, “because we saw media on the morning, around various places”. …