Croll and Department of Justice and Attorney-General

Croll and Department of Justice and Attorney-General
(1996 S0098, 25 August 1997) 

The Information Commissioner found that the matter remaining in issue, being documents created for the sole purpose of use in the prosecution of a criminal charge laid against the applicant, was exempt matter under s.43(1) of the FOI Act. 

The applicant argued that legal professional privilege did not apply because the documents were brought into existence for the purpose of guiding or helping in the commission of a crime or fraud, or for the furtherance of an illegal purpose, or for the purpose of frustrating the process of the law itself. 

The Information Commissioner found that there was no prima facie evidence that the particular documents in issue had been created in furtherance of an illegal or improper purpose.