OzGate - the little email that wasn't

ToryGate: The definitive autopsy of a Tory Fail.

A wehatetories special; the UteGate summary is presented in full. Read on in horror as Turnbull commits political suicide with his own "smoking gun".

Inspiration:

The federal Liberal party appears to have taken a leaf out of South Australian Tory leader Martin Hamilton-Smith's book of political suicide over the last week.

The parallels are uncanny, in both cases, the Tory Leader marched into parliament and screamed till they where blue in the face about a corruption scandal and when quizzed for evidence relied on a fraudulent document they later purported to have nothing to do with.

That's right, the ABC now understands the email at the center of the OzCar "scandal" to be a fake.

Timeline of a Disaster:

June 4: Malcolm Turnbull alleges that Kevin Rudd's neighbour, a car dealer, has benefited from a system designed to help car dealers.

June 19: Malcolm Turnbull threatens the Prime Ministers economic adviser Andrew Charlton over his job if he does not provide an alleged email detailing the Prime Ministers wrongdoing. Tory Senator Eric Abetz reads the text of the email out publically.

June 20: Tired of waiting for Turnbull to provide evidence, Rudd calls the Australian Federal Police to investigate himself.

June 21: Turnbull panics, then claims the email he was talking about is unimportant and has nothing to with anything, and is somehow a nasty trick by Kevin Rudd.

June 22: The email is understood to be a fake.

June 22 ~ 3:30 PM: The email now understood to be a fake, has led police to former Turnbull adviser Paul Lindwall.

June 22 ~ 4:20 PM: AFP confirm the email is a fake, and a forgery.

June 22 ~ 4:30 PM: Tory Senator Eric Abetz claims that he read the email out after it was printed in the paper. After it turns out the text was read out by tory Abetz before it was printed, he suddenly changes his tune, and says he will not comment any further, other than to the Federal Police.

June 23: Turnbull, rather than apologizing, picking up the pieces of his shattered credibility and running for cover, simply admits that there is nothing to his allegations, then suggests "mutual apologies":

I'll apologise ... for saying he misled the parliament when he apologises to me ... we can have mutual apologies. I'd be delighted to do that."

June 23 ~ 6:00 PM: ABC reveals that the AFP has been monitoring treasury for years, suspecting a mole leaking to the Liberal party. With evidence seeming to now point to Grech as the source of the doctored email, Liberal insiders reveal that Grech has been "sympathetic" and leaking to the Liberal party, and possibly to Turnbull directly, Turnbull refuses to confirm or deny this. The AFP is also investigating the potentially related leaking of information about Fuelwatch and the bank deposit guarantee.

June 24: Joe Hockey says that the opposition Tories are entitled to form relationships with public servants such as Grech, but refuses to comment any further, other than to say that he understands that "there is a political story which is of interest to some if not many, about Godwin Grech".

June 25: News Limited Newspapers report that Godwen Grech met with Turnbull and Abetz met with Grech in the leadup to his senate estimates evidence and further that he had showed them the faked email during these meetings. With more than a whif of a conspiracy to con the public, Turnbull has refused to comment on this meeting other than to drop the bombshell that he had "spoken" with Grech recently.

June 28: Malcolm Turnbull gives a statement to the Australian Federal Police about his involvement in the forged email scandal. Despite admitting his argument could not be sustained on June 23, to distract attention from the embarassment of having to meet with the AFP over this, he repeats his claims of corruption against the government.

Summary of Players:

For your convenience - the summary of players involved in the scam.

Name: Malcolm Turnbull
Position: Tory Leader
Lies: Claims he had nothing to do with the email; turns out his mole is likely source of forgery. Refuses to comment on the mole any further.

Name: Eric Abetz
Position: Tory attack dog
Lies: Claims he was reading email from the newspaper; turns out the newspaper didn't print it till the day after. Refuses to comment on his earlier statements any further.

Name: Godwen Grech
Position: Tories rat Grech out as a Liberal mole
Lies: Claims he vaguely remembers an email; AFP are investigating him for producing the forgery. A senior Liberal claims he is "sympathetic" to the Liberal party; Turnbull is asked whether Grech leaks to him, refuses to confirm or deny; uncontactable.


The full timeline and summary of the debacle available only here.