The Independent Commission Against Corruption has launched a court bid to reinstate corruption findings against former RAMS Home Loans founder John Kinghorn over his involvement in a coal venture linked to the Obeid family.
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In July this year Mr Kinghorn became the first person in more than 20 years to be cleared of corrupt conduct in NSW after Supreme Court Justice Robert McDougall quashed the ICAC's finding against him.
But the ICAC is seeking leave to appeal against the decision in the NSW Court of Appeal.
Justice McDougall rejected a bid by four of Mr Kinghorn's associates - mining mogul Travers Duncan, lawyers-turned-businessmen John McGuigan and John Atkinson, and investment banker Richard Poole - to overturn corruption findings against them over the same deal. All four men are also appealing against that decision.
A spokeswoman for Mr Kinghorn declined to comment on Tuesday.
Investigations by the corruption watchdog have resulted in a number of high-profile court battles this year, including a number of cases before the Court of Appeal.
A bid by deputy senior Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, SC, to shut down an investigation into her and her eldest son, Stephen Wyllie, and his girlfriend, Sophia Tilley, is also being considered by the Court of Appeal after the Supreme Court dismissed her case. The court reserved its decision last week.
At the same time, the court is considering an appeal by a mystery media identity, who is challenging the ICAC's powers to force him and his employer to hand over his work emails and diary. The names of the media identity and his employer have been suppressed.
In July last year, the ICAC found Mr Kinghorn and his associates had acted corruptly by "intending to deceive ... NSW government public authorities or officials as to the involvement of the Obeids" in a lucrative mining venture involving their Bylong Valley farm. In 2009 Mr Kinghorn and his four associates acquired a coal exploration licence over the property, through their private company Cascade Coal.
Justice McDougall found the findings made against Mr Kinghorn "did not support the conclusion that his conduct could involve a criminal offence" – a precondition to a corrupt conduct finding – and should be overturned.
The ICAC did not comment.
