In the wake of yet another book's print run being pulped Australia's leading corruption book publisher, Kotabi has announced it will not shred, pulp or stop selling its publication detailing corruption associated with Peter Costello and others in the Liberal Party.
This week Random House announced that it was pulping and destroying the entire print-run of its book "Waterfront: The battle that changed Australia".
It is understood that this action costing the publisher tens of thousands of dollars arose after threats were made in relation to a line in the book which said that the forged letters tabled by Ralph Willis at the 1996 Federal Election had been forged by someone at Peter Costello's office. Random House paid $277,000 to Peter Costello and Tony Abbott in 1999 after a court found that the publisher had defamed the pair in a book called "Goodbye Jerusalem" by Bob Ellis.
In July last year Kotabi released a book with a 3,000 word chapter detailing the entire forged letters saga and stated that the only possible source of the letters was from someone who worked at the offices of Costello and then Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett. The actual forgery culprit is also identified.
More damningly "Victoria Police Corruption – 2" details how Victorian Liberals had successfully and improperly used forged letters to attack and destroy other people's credibility including a failed attempt to have author Raymond Hoser charged and convicted of forgery by "planting" forged letters on him, knowing that they would be tabled in good faith.
That book "Victoria Police Corruption – 2" and another published at the same time ("Victoria Police Corruption") have already been through the defamation courts and so far author and publisher have won all cases. Truth has been their defence.
As recently as 18 April 2000, a coalition including a convicted extortionist, Adam Zoccoli and the Victorian Ombudsman's office again sought to have one of the books banned from sale. The application failed – Justice Gillard failed to identify anything in the books that were factually incorrect and ordered that sales proceed.
Kotabi publishing are presently arranging reprints of both books as sales continue to power along. Both were meticulously checked and researched prior to publication.
Contents of both books were derided by those adversely named as "fantasy" and "wild conspiracy theories" at the time they were published. However in the 8 months since publication their contents have been vindicated as true and correct by numerous independent researchers and widely reported in the media.
Including in the vindications are the following:
"Victoria Police Corruption" broke the following (more recently reported) "news" stories.
Details of rapes of women at Maryborough by Police – since vindicatyed by three court judgements against the (named) Police and payouts to victims.
Drug trafficking by drug squad policeman Kevin Hicks. At the time the book came out, Hicks protested his innocence of the allegations. He has since changed his mind, pled guilty and was sentenced to five years jail as recently as last week.
Hoser's statement that Niddrie woman Jane Thurgood-Dove was murdered on instructions of a serving Police officer was initially derided by a police spokesman as a "wild conspiracy theory". Reluctantly, the homicide squad has since admitted that the evidence shows Hoser was right.
Hoser's statement that guns were hidden in the ceilings of several named Police stations was also denounced as "complete bullshit". Recent ESD raids on the St. Kilda Police station have again confirmed the veracity of what Hoser wrote.
The Intergraph Royal Commission has confirmed Hoser's extensive account of the matter in "Victoria Police Corruption". The inquiry was promised by then opposition leader Steve Bracks after a person asked a question of him at the Labor election campaign launch. The person cited the book as a reason for having the inquiry.
Just this week, the State government announced an inquiry into the tendering process of the sale of the Vicroads road building equipment during the Kennett years. "Victoria Police Corruption – 2" was the first to properly detail the scandal. Those allegations were also derided by officials as "a wild conspiracy theory".