Senior figures from the lead contractor on the Turnbull Government’s Snowy 2.0 program have taken legal action to prevent federal police accessing files seized during a raid.
Among those who have applied to the Federal Court for a judicial review of the AFP’s actions is the former chief of the Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation, Andrew Goodwin.
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with Andrew Goodwin in the background, on a visit to SMEC in Cooma on Wednesday 28 ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20180418062657im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/0/9/w/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.p4za52.png/1523967121275.jpg)
On Friday, Mr Goodwin was sacked as chief executive of listed engineering firm Cardno, only weeks after the board had appointed him.
In a statement to the ASX, Cardno said Mr Goodwin was removed from his job after he allegedly failed to follow the "lawful directions" of the board in relation to matters involving his former employer, SMEC Holdings.
Mr Goodwin's departure followed revelations in Fairfax Media last week about the AFP’s investigation into him and several senior SMEC figures that involved an alleged conspiracy to cover up foreign corruption.
A lawyer representing Cardno on Tuesday declined to discuss any further what had prompted the board's decision.
Federal police in February executed search and entry warrants naming several past and present senior figures with responsibility for SMEC Holdings, and in some cases, for overseeing its Australian subsidiary, SMEC Australia.
The warrants alleged police had reasonable grounds to suspect Mr Goodwin and a small number of other senior SMEC figures were allegedly involved in efforts to cover up financial crimes overseas.
![Malcolm Turnbull inspects the Snowy Hydro Tumut 2 power station.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180418062657im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/x/1/9/d/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.p4za52.png/1523967121275.jpg)
SMEC Australia was engaged by the federal government-owned Snowy Hydro company in May last year to undertake a $29 million feasibility contract on the initial phase of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy 2.0 project.
Mr Goodwin last year announced the company had won the work and hosted Mr Turnbull at a media event near the Snowy 2.0 project site. The SMEC subsidiary has since completed the feasibility contract and won other ongoing Snowy 2.0 work.
The government and SMEC have released statements saying the police investigations do not relate to any Australian projects, including the Snowy Hydro project.
Documents filed with the Federal Court reveal that three other senior figures associated with SMEC Holdings have joined Mr Goodwin in applying for a judicial review of the AFP’s decision to execute search warrants in February on several properties in relation to an alleged cover up.
One is a SMEC International manager, Ankur Charagi. The other two senior SMEC figures to lodge legal action have done so using pseudonyms. SMEC Holdings has also sought to challenge the AFP's actions.
If the court finds the AFP did not have valid grounds for executing the search warrants, it would mean material obtained during the February raids could not be used to aid the police inquiry.
SMEC has said that it continues to co-operate with the AFP’s probe into its overseas activities, despite its application for a judicial review of the federal police warrants.
The AFP search and entry warrant named Mr Goodwin and other senior SMEC figures as being part of an alleged accounting fraud to conceal from investigators a financial crime related to an engineering and water infrastructure contract in India
A second AFP search and entry warrant identifies four SMEC men as being part of an alleged conspiracy to “defeat justice” in relation to bribery investigations linked to a project in Bangladesh.
No charges have been laid against any of the individuals named in the two AFP search warrants. Senior SMEC figures identified in Fairfax Media’s report have denied wrongdoing.
SMEC’s overseas operations have been the target of a federal police bribery investigation for several years in relation to aid contracts won across Asia, including in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This year’s AFP search warrants relate to investigators’ suspicions senior SMEC figures have tried to undermine the original investigation and cover up alleged financial crime.
Cardno chose to hire Mr Goodwin as its CEO despite the ongoing investigations into SMEC.
Mr Goodwin has denied any impropriety.