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Lawyer flags ‘no case’ call in corruption charges against former health bureaucrat

A defence lawyer is set to ask that corruption charges be withdrawn against the former boss of Queensland’s biggest public hospital service Malcolm Frederick Stamp.

Aug 01, 2022, updated Aug 01, 2022
Former Metro North Health and Hospital Service chief executive Malcolm Stamp was suspended from the hospital service in 2014.

Former Metro North Health and Hospital Service chief executive Malcolm Stamp was suspended from the hospital service in 2014.

Former Metro North Hospital and Health Service chief executive Stamp has flown in from the United Kingdom for a committal hearing in Brisbane, four years after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The 69-year-old was charged after becoming embroiled in an alleged nepotism scandal amid allegations he dishonestly arranged a job for his daughter Katy in 2014.

However, it emerged on Monday that Stamp’s barrister Saul Holt will ask the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to drop the charges after the last witness appears in Brisbane Magistrates Court hearing on Wednesday.

If unsuccessful, Stamp’s defence team is expected to make a no case submission to magistrate Michael Quinn who is presiding over the committal.

“Given the way that the (hearing) has proceeded so far it is anticipated once we have reached the end of witnesses we will then be asking for the committal to be adjourned to a later date,” senior crown prosecutor Mark Green told the court on Monday.

“There will be a submission to the director’s office … that I will then consider and a decision can be made at our office.”

Quinn replied: “So it is within your office, not a submission to the court of no case, it is an exercise of discretion?”

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“That may be a better way to proceed. Your Honour won’t need to consider the matter,” Green said.

Stamp was sacked in early 2015 after an internal investigation and returned to his native United Kingdom.

The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) charged him in 2018, alleging he dishonestly arranged for his daughter to be given a media and communication services job with an annual salary of $80,000.

The CCC alleged the role was organised by another executive via a taxpayer-funded contract with a Metro North supplier before efforts were made to cover it up.

The committal hearing entered its second week on Monday.

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