LEVI INQUIRY NOT TOLD OF DRUG LINK

Police investigating the shooting of Ronnie Levi on Bondi Beach were not
told of an internal affairs investigation into alleged drug dealing by the
officers who fired the fatal shots until more than three months after the
killing, the Police Integrity Commission was told yesterday.

A police inspector, who commanded a covert investigation into former
constable Rodney Podesta, also told the commission that he was concerned
about how Podesta came to enter the Police Service.

He told counsel for the PIC, Mr Peter Johnson, that checks into Podesta's
civilian employment background by the Police Service had been "inadequate".

The inspector was giving evidence at the resumption of a PIC inquiry into
the conduct of the police investigation into the shooting and allegations
that police involved in the death of Mr Levi were intoxicated by drugs or
alcohol the night before the shooting.

The detective inspector, whose identity was suppressed by Commissioner Paul
Urquhart for operational reasons, said he had commanded a covert Internal
Affairs operation code named Borden which targeted Podesta and had begun a
month before the shooting.

Operation Borden, which only recently wound up, examined allegations that
Podesta was using and dealing in drugs.

In evidence before the commission in Sydney yesterday the officer said that
when he took command of Operation Borden he was aware of another Internal
Affairs inquiry code named Addlestone that had targeted the now former
senior constable Tony Dilorenzo.

Operation Addlestone examined allegations that Dilorenzo, who was also
involved in the shooting of Mr Levi, was associating with persons known to
be involved in the drug scene.

The officer said he first learnt of Podesta's involvement in the fatal
shooting at Bondi Beach about a week later while undertaking a course at the
Goulburn Police Academy.

He said at that time there were no procedures governing what information
Internal Affairs should disclose about any officer involved in a shooting.

It was not until a meeting on October 17, 1997 that some information
concerning the investigation into Podesta was passed on to the shooting
investigation team and the State Coroner.

The officer also told the commission that the internal investigation had not
been able to substantiate allegations that Podesta was affected by drugs or
alcohol the night before or morning of the shooting.

He said that allegations from five informants had come from second or
third-hand sources while the allegations from a sixth informant was
disputed.

That informant, a woman, claimed to have seen the officer in his uniform at
her Bondi unit the night before Mr Levi was shot dead in a confrontation
with police on June 28. The woman claimed he appeared drunk or on drugs.

The inspector said that the Police Service should adopt more stringent
procedures in screening recruits. He said when he examined Podesta's
personnel file he discovered he had been the manager of the Piccolo Bar in
Roslyn Street, Kings Cross.

"From some inquiries I made of that location there are numerous events and
intelligence reports which relate to drug activity at that location," the
inspector said.

"It appeared to me that it would be a check that should be done as part of
the vetting of recruits into the service of their previous employment and
backgrounds to that type of employment."

Podesta was sentenced to four months periodic detention in December for
attempting to buy cocaine.