Was the McSkimming affair corruption?
The McSkimming affair, in a nutshell, is:
- A woman repeatedly accused the Deputy Police Commissioner of sexual assault and other offences.
- She was charged with harassing the Deputy Police Commissioner, while he was never investigated over the allegations until after she was charged.
- Multiple people at Police HQ not only failed to investigate the allegations, but also went out of their way to hide them from the Public Service Commission appointment panels, the IPCA and the Minister – all so it would not interfere with the Deputy Commissioner’s chances of being made Commissioner
Before we look at the legal side, let’s take it from a common sense point of view. If McSkimming had been appointed Commissioner (which was almost certain if there had not been a change of government), then the scandal, once fully exposed, would probably be regarded as New Zealand’s biggest ever corruption scandal, and would have made global news. It would have resulted in an incumbent Commissioner being found guilty of serious offences etc etc.
The Oxford Dictionary defines corruption as:
dishonest or illegal behaviour, especially of people in authority
By that definition, what happened is clearly corruption. It was clearly dishonest behaviour of people in authority.
Whether it was illegal Is another matter. I know some lawyers who have suggested that what happened could be considered “conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice in New Zealand” which is an offence under S116 of the Crimes Act. In the end any decision on potential charges would be for Crown Law to reach, after a full investigation by Police.
It could well be that the behaviour by multiple senior officers was not illegal, even though it was clearly disgraceful. One can have a view that what happened in its entirety was corrupt, even though no individual person broke the law. McSkimming did of course break the law around objectionable material, and that only was discovered once the Police launched a proper investigation of him over the allegations by Ms Z.