The colourful local newspaper publisher awarded a "matehood" by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been cleared of giving false and misleading evidence to the corruption watchdog.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
John Booth, the proprietor of Ryde's The Weekly Times, was acquitted after a criminal trial in Downing Centre local court was adjourned part-heard earlier this month.
Mr Booth counted among a number of figures recommended for prosecution following the Independent Commission Against Corruption's inquiry into the City of Ryde council in 2013.
ICAC had found that Mr Booth had misled its two-week public inquiry when he claimed that election advertising published in his newspaper under the banner "saveryde.com" had been organised by Barry O'Grady, who had since died.
Mr Booth told Fairfax Media he felt justified by the not guilty verdict, and said he was considering taking further action against the ICAC.
"They just call everybody liars all the time, it's unbelievable," Mr Booth said. "The powers that they've got it's worse than the Spanish inquisition and the Stasi put together."
"I was thinking of calling for a Royal Commission into ICAC because I think it's just gone mad."
Mr Booth was not the biggest target of the inquiry, which led to a number of charges and corruption findings against former Ryde mayor Ivan Petch among others. But the acquittal is yet another blow for the beleaguered watchdog after criminal charges against former SES commissioner Murray Kear were dismissed last month.
"I just feel that I'm one of the butterflies that [ICAC] trying to take the wings off," Mr Booth said.
Criminal trials arising out of the inquiry are yet to be heard against Mr Petch, developer John Goubran, publicist Anthony Stavrinos and newspaper employee Richard Henricus.
An ICAC spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr Booth's matter. But the spokeswoman said ICAC "would like to point out that the Commission only refers evidence to the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] for consideration of whether a criminal charge ought be preferred and that a decision to prosecute is for the DPP alone.
"The DPP at all times has the carriage of a prosecution," the spokeswoman said.
