Heads to roll in ACC?

Police have decided that there will be no charges in the Bronwyn Pullar ACC case; Stuff reports:

Police have announced that no charges will be laid over ACC's extortion allegation against whistleblower Bronwyn Pullar.

ACC alleged that at a meeting with Pullar in December she alerted them to a massive privacy breach and threatened to withhold details of the breach and go to the media if she was not given a guaranteed benefit for two years.

ACC made the allegation in a report in March to its minister, Judith Collins, following Pullar revealing in The Dominion Post the massive privacy breach by the corporation.

Pullar immediately hit back saying the allegation was false.

She said ACC leaked her name to the media and set out to "intentionally destroy my privacy and reputation. It shows how ACC treats claimants with disdain."

"It shows how ACC will smash anybody who dares speak out," she said.

In April Pullar provided ACC with a tape recording of the meeting which revealed she made no threat to go to the media over the privacy breach nor demand compensation - which she was already receiving - for two years.

The tape recording revealed that ACC had misled Collins and the public.

Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess announced this morning police had completed the investigation and would not take the matter further.

"After careful consideration of the evidence now available and a separate legal review of the facts we have determined that no offence has been disclosed." 

We suspect there will be some nervous folk at ACC this afternoon. ACC made a serious allegation against Bronwyn Pullar, but the determination by police that "no offense has been dosclosed" will turn the apotlight firmly back on ACC's management.

To make matters worse, ACC's report caused ACC Minister Judith Collins to issue a misleading statement. It is clear now that Collins herself was misled by the ACC; that is unacceptable. Ministers must be able to trust the advice they are given by their departments; that is a fundamental tenet of government, regardless of which party governs.

ACC will be commenting publicly this afternoon. We await that announcement with much interest. It will also be interesting to see how widespread the fallout is within ACC.