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Former National Parks officer cleared of Thredbo inquiry lying - 30 November 2005

ABC news report

A former National Parks and Wildlife (NPWS) staff member has been found not guilty of lying to an inquiry into the Thredbo landslide. Eighteen people died when two ski lodges at the New South Wales resort collapsed in July 1997.

The former senior environmental health officer, John Kite, has been standing trial in the District Court, having pleaded not guilty to nine charges of perverting the course of justice and lying to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Mr Kite said that in 1998 he found a memo in his personal file suggesting a conspiracy to get rid of him and that he had been offered a bribe to lie to the Thredbo coronial inquiry.

The prosecution alleged Mr Kite had written the memo himself but a jury has today found him not guilty of eight charges and one was withdrawn.