Former Australian immigration minister Kevin Andrews was apparently in dark about the vital evidence of accused Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef's innocence when he cancelled his visa last year.
Andrews will tell the Rudd government-ordered inquiry into the bungled case, which opens on Wednesday, that the Australian Federal Police did not inform him of evidence debunking allegations against Dr Haneef's second-cousin Sabeel Ahmed - allegations that had led to the subsequent terrorism charge against the Gold Coast doctor.
The inquiry, headed by former Supreme Court judge John Clarke, will probe whether the AFP ignored the vital information or, if it was ever passed on to Australia probe after it was revealed by the British police.
The inquiry will open today with a directions hearing in Canberra that is expected to hear submissions from Haneef's lawyers, calling on Attorney-General Robert McClelland to grant Clarke inquiry powers, to ensure documents are released and witnesses compelled to give evidence and face cross-examination.
Haneef, 27, who was wrongly accused of supporting a terror organisation after his SIM card was allegedly found with the accused in the failed UK car bombings last year, returned to India after spending three weeks in detention as his work visa was cancelled by Andrews on character grounds.
Meanwhile, Queensland Law Society president Megan Mahon, in a letter last month to Attorney-General Robert McClelland, said the Rudd government had broken a pre-election promise to set up an independent judicial inquiry into the case.
"At the time, we reasonably assumed that this meant that a serving judge would be appointed with royal commission or similar statutory powers," Mahon wrote, adding "Your March statement (announcing the inquiry) is silent about what actual powers the Clarke inquiry has and, therefore, what recourse it has should potential witnesses either refuse to appear or, when appearing, refuse to answer questions for fear of the risk of defamation or self-incrimination."
Mahon said she feared that without the expanded powers, conspiracy theories and conjecture would abound for years over the case.
McClelland has previously stated that it will be up to Clarke to seek the expanded coercive powers for the inquiry. However, he has also refused to expand the inquiry's terms of reference to consider the role of British authorities in supplying information to their Australian counterparts.
The issue will be raised in Andrews' evidence, which is expected, along with that of other key players such as Keelty, to be taken behind closed doors and without the prospect of cross-examination.
Andrews on Tuesday declined to comment about the case, but a newspaper report said, 'It is understood that he will tell the inquiry he was in the dark about the evidence that damaged the case against Haneef - which came to public attention only this month in a London court - before revoking the doctor's visa after he was granted bail on July 16 by a Brisbane court'.
