BOB GRAY’S REFLECTIONS ON THE EARLY DAYS OF THE SIU

Bob Gray was one of the first investigators to join the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). He has contributed a chapter for the book Nazis in Australia – The Special Investigations Unit – 1987-1994. The contents in this blog do not appear in the book. In many ways this blog is Bob’s tribute to the SIU’s first Director, Robert (Bob) Greenwood QC. The contents of the blog are Bob Gray’s persona reflections, which I have reproduced with his permission.

“I was born in Denman NSW in February 1941, the second eldest in a family of five boys and, according to my mother, I always wanted to become a ‘policeman’.

“I was not the only member of the SIU born during World War II; the Director, Bob Greenwood QC, an unabashed ‘Queenslander’, was born in October 1941. It is my understanding that … ‘he grew up in a comfortable Brisbane middle-class home, went to Brisbane’s Church of England Grammar School and then to Queensland University … began his career in law as a prosecutor’s clerk in Townsville, and afterwards went on to build a successful private practice in Brisbane, where he and his elder brother, John, both became Queen’s Counsel’.

“In mid 1961 I applied to join the NSW Police Force. After spending my probationary period working in Sydney, I was transferred to Tamworth where I first met Detective Sergeant Bruce Huggett, who was also destined to join the SIU as the Chief Investigator. I left the NSW Police in August 1969 and in September 1971, I joined the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Police Force, which in 1979 morphed into the Australian Federal Police (AFP). I was promoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant in June 1982 and in January 1984 I returned to ACT policing as the OIC of the Belconnen District Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB).

“In January 1985 Bob Greenwood QC was appointed as the Deputy DPP for the ACT in Canberra. At that time the ACT Crime Branches were dealing with an upsurge in serious crime and the appointment of a person with Greenwood’s credentials was a welcome move as, on reflection, I now consider 1985 to potentially be the year that Canberra ‘lost its innocence’ when it came to dealing with serious crime.

“Not too long after his arrival, I had my first meeting with Bob Greenwood. My recollection is that I had cause to visit the ACT office of the DPP and took the opportunity of asking if I would be able to introduce myself to the new Deputy Director. Without fanfare, I was ushered into his office and found myself across the desk from a slightly built but astute looking man who, without really looking up, was peering at me over the top of his reading glasses ‘perched’ near the tip of his nose, and with a half smile, said something like, ‘Take a seat, I’m Bob Greenwood and who might you be?’. During our conversation, he made the comment, ‘The way I see it, you are the investigators and we are the prosecutors … I won’t tell you how to do your job if you don’t tell me how to do mine … but we can both help each other to get the job done properly and according to law’.  It didn’t take long for our working relationship to fall into place.

“I worked on a number of serious cases that were prosecuted by Greenwood.  As time progressed we became mates, sharing the odd beer together after work and generally getting to know each other; thereby allowing me to see his ‘other side’ and to get to know him as the compassionate and caring person he was when it came to dealing with injustice towards others; particularly where children were concerned.

“From time to time, probably over a beer or a coffee, we also shared some of our own life stories and I was surprised on one occasion when he, very humbly, confided that during his schooling it was found that he had an IQ score in excess of 140 and had been a Queensland ABC radio ‘quiz kid’ for some time.  

“It also became apparent to me that he enjoyed being a prosecutor and having police officers work with him, not for him.  He respected their knowledge and abilities, so long as their strategies and work ethics remained within the ‘rule of law’.  As such, it was with some regret, an element of sadness and a sense of loss to ACT policing, that I bade him farewell when, in February 1986, he took up a role as an Acting Member of the National Crime Authority (NCA) and moved to Sydney.

“I had not had a great deal of contact with Greenwood following his move to the NCA and, while on leave I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from him. He was in Canberra and we agreed to meet up for a beer. We met as agreed and I left him having been offered a secondment as a senior investigator at the SIU. He later acknowledged my recruitment a few years later in September 1989, in a letter to the AFP Commissioner where he stated:

‘The Special Investigations Unit of the Federal Attorney General’s Department was set up in May, 1987, with a purpose of investigating and where appropriate prosecuting allegations of the commission of war crimes by persons currently resident in Australia. This is an operation unique in the sense that it has no precedent in Australian policing experience.

‘I am the Director of the Unit conducting these investigations and at its outset I deemed it necessary to have competent and experienced investigators on secondment to the Unit for the purpose of performing the actual investigations. In selecting staff to perform this function the first officer I chose was Detective Sergeant Gray on the basis of my personal knowledge of his expertise and competence in that area’.

“Greenwood also raised with me his intention to offer an SIU secondment to another AFP police officer, Detective Senior Sergeant John Jansen.  Greenwood asked if I would speak with him confidentially on his behalf. Commonly known as JJ, Jansen had joined the ACT Police in February 1977 and had progressed through the ranks to his then rank of Detective Senior Sergeant.  He and I had worked together in the CIB on one homicide investigation and was well aware of his capability and respected his achievements as a detective. I recall being able to speak with him confidentially and advising Greenwood of JJ’s interest and availability for secondment to the Unit.

“My decision to accept the secondment to the SIU was not an easy one.  The Unit was to be based in, and operate from, Sydney and required an initial two year commitment.  There was also a commitment to living in Sydney and undertaking extensive national and international travel; all good in theory but very demanding on my family.   However, with the blessing of my wife and children I was able to inform Greenwood of my decision to accept his offer.

“Prior to Greenwood’s appointment, in February 1987 during a visit to Israel by the Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, a representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center delivered a list containing fifteen names of alleged war criminals to the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv.  The list, dated 25 January 1987, included thirteen names of individuals who were allegedly involved in the murder of civilians in Lithuanian towns and villages following the German invasion in 1941. This list was included in the documentation received by the SIU 23 April 1987.

“It is my understanding that the list had been delivered to the Australian Embassy by, or on behalf of, Efriam Zuroff from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel.  After I joined the SIU Zuroff became a regular source of allegations provided to the SIU.  A major source of his information came from copies of Red Cross refugee files that were held in the Yad Vashem Archives in Jerusalem.  The files contained details of WWII refugee movements throughout the world. Generally, the files held personal details of the refugees, their embarkation point from Europe, their disembarkation point and the vessel upon which they travelled. Zuroff’s modus operandi was to identify persons he suspected of being war criminals from open source materials, such as newspaper articles and various publications, and material held in archives throughout the world, including the Yad Vashem. He would then cross reference these suspect’s names with the Red Cross files.  If he identified a possible match relating to an offence or reported criminal activity by a suspect, he would provide that information to the Government of the country where the suspect was recorded as disembarking.  These allegations ranged from being very specific to very general and were being sourced from ‘secondary’ rather than ‘primary’ documentation.  To my way of thinking after I joined the SIU we had to make every effort to gain access to the original Red Cross documentation. Subsequently the SIU wasted a lot of tie chasing down Zuroff’s false leads.

“Being the first seconded investigators to join the SIU, Jansen and I arrived at the Elizabeth Street offices of the Unit on 11 July 1987. The office space had an air of spaciousness about it but, at that stage was sparsely furnished, and from memory, there were two other staff members and the Director present.  Following a morning induction with the Director we were introduced to a room full of cartons containing the Menzies Review papers (refer to Nazis in Australia – The Special Investigations Unit – 1987-1994.).  In addition to the 70 matters identified by the Review it was found that there were a further 278 files emanating from the Review, that also required urgent review.  As anyone who knew Greenwood well would know, there was to be ‘no rest for the wicked’ when working with him.

“Pending the arrival of more senior NSW police officers, being the ranking police officer in the Unit, my duties, as later documented by the Director, involved:

‘the setting up of the Unit, formulation and implementation of appropriate policies relative to its investigative methodology and the administration of the Unit from both the point of view of the investigations and internal control and accountability, and advising me relative to those issues’.

“During this early period, I have a clear recollection of accompanying Greenwood to the office of the Attorney-General, where I was introduced to Lionel Bowen. From memory, the need to undertake an extensive overseas mission inclusive of the Soviet Union, where I was to accompany the Director, was raised and acknowledged .It was obvious Greenwood and the A-G were very much ‘on the same page’ regarding the future needs of the SIU.

“Even though the amendments to the War Crimes Act 1945 were still pending,and bearing in mind the investigation principles of exhibit control and continuity, the SIU registry was set up for the purpose of enabling:

 

• • all original files received into the Unit to be retained in their original condition;

• • the files containing matters for investigation from the Menzies Review to be identified;

• • the files containing matters for investigation arising out of the review of other Menzies Review files to be identified; and

• • the files relating to new allegations received to be identified.

“Whenever an allegation was received by the SIU a PU (Personal Unit) file was raised.  The purpose of each of these was to record all details relating to the suspect, the allegation and the actual investigative progress.  Each of the Menzies Review files, known as P files, was given a corresponding PU number.  This initiative was to be maintained for the life of the SIU. In relation to all investigation files, it was determined that each investigation would commence by confirming the identity of the person who was the subject of the allegation and establishing, amongst other things, whether that person:

 

1. 1. ever came to Australia;

1. 1. is, or was, an Australian citizen;

1. 1. is still alive or deceased;

1. 1. is currently resident in Australia and if so the persons current address;

1. 1. is an Australian citizen living permanently abroad; or

1. 1. is or is likely to be either fit or unfit to stand trial.

“Although JJ and I set foot in the SIU office on the first day of operation, we were soon joined by three members of the NSW Police Force.  Detective Sergeant Richard (Dick) Letchford and Detective Sergeant Robert (Bob) Reid who arrived on 16 June 1987; to be followed only a matter of days later by, of all people, recently retired Detective Chief Superintendent Bruce Huggett, who, unbeknown to me, had been working with Greenwood at the National Crime Authority and had been seconded to take over the role of Chief Investigator of the SIU.  Having worked with Bruce during my NSW Police ‘Tamworth days’, his arrival was a welcome and pleasant surprise to me and we were to enjoy a respectful and comfortable working relationship for the duration of my tenure at the Unit.

“From the outset, it was also obvious that there were two distinct spheres of investigation being (a) inquiries within Australia and (b) international inquiries.  To meet these requirements the decision was taken that two investigatory arms be set up within the Unit:

 

• • a multi functional team to carry out investigations within Australia; and

• • a team of senior investigators being placed in charge of those inquiries likely to arise from identified international geographical locations, generally listed as including Germany, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

“Following the arrival of Bruce Huggett, my ongoing role in the SIU was probably best summed up, again by Greenwood, when he documented the following comments in September 1989:

‘As investigations commenced [Bob Gray] also assisted me significantly in setting up international agreements and agreements with a number of overseas Governments and Government departments and instrumentalities which had the potential to assist this Unit in its operations.

In addition to this [he] was given the significant responsibility of being in charge of, and performing with such assistance as necessary, investigations into allegations concerning a significantly large geographical area of Eastern Europe. Consequently his investigations took him to a number of overseas countries’.

“Initially, the identification of suspects commenced with thorough searches of the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages Register (BDM) and I recall spending days searching the NSW BDM records prior to our initial overseas journey.  In order to facilitate these inquiries within Australia, cooperative arrangements between the SIU and the relevant state governments were implemented during the early months of the Unit’s operations.  These arrangements included gaining access to all state BDM’s, Commonwealth Electoral Rolls and Department of Immigration migration records; along with any other legitimate ‘avenues of inquiry’ that might arise.

“The Objectives and Functions of the SIU were not formally recorded until early 1989, but I think it is fair to say that because of the quality and knowledge of the staff involved, from the very first day, the Unit operated consciously and consistently within the ‘spirit’ of the criteria set out by Greenwood, in his appointment statement in February 1987, which included these comments:

‘I have assured the Attorney-General that nothing short of the highest standards of integrity will be applied to the task ahead, and that I will ensure that the Special Investigations Unit established to assist me will go about its business thoroughly and calmly. There will be no publicity of the details of our operational activities which would lead to the reputation of individuals being affected unless and until specific charges are laid. I believe that the highly sensitive nature of the investigations that we will be undertaking make it important that this position be stated clearly at the outset and that any disquiet that might exist in the community be accordingly put to rest’.

Greenwood would not have been satisfied with anything less.

“Also, at that stage, consistent with the early operational needs of the SIU, it was determined that the criteria under which an investigation could be suspended or terminated, at the Director’s direction, would be that:

 

1. 1. the person named is, or is probably, deceased;

1. 1. the person is, despite concentrated efforts, not able to be located in Australia;

1. 1. the person named is an Australian citizen permanently living abroad and extradition is not possible or appropriate;

1. 1. the person is permanently living abroad and extradition is not possible or appropriate;

1. 1. the person named is, or is likely to be, unfit to stand trial;

1. 1. where only a name is supplied, there is no supporting information which offers an avenue of responsible inquiry;

1. 1. as a result of investigation the allegation is probably false;

1. 1. the allegation is vague and imprecise and after preliminary investigation further enquiries are unlikely to lead to proof of the commission of an offence;

1. 1. the possible sustainable allegation against the person would not mount to an offence under the Act or would not be of such a serious nature to justify further active investigation;

1. 1. there is no evidence that the person named ever came to Australia.

“We were well aware that at that stage, an office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center was located in California; the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) had been operating in the United States for a number of years in Washington DC; the Canadians had set up a war crimes investigation unit about 12 months ahead of Australia; England was in the process of determining whether or not to pursue war crimes investigations; the Federal Republic of Germany had actively pursued and prosecuted WWII war criminals for decades; Israel was (i) the home of Yad Vashem Archives and (ii) also had an office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and (iii) had maintained a war crimes investigation unit since the end of the War; while Italy held the International Red Cross records.

“Having these relevant organisations in mind, in about June 1987 planning arrangements commenced for Greenwood and I to undertake the maiden SIU overseas mission for the dual purpose of;

 

• • establishing with relevant governments arrangements for assistance in gaining access to potential witnesses and historical material, and

• • consulting with organisations, agencies and individuals with whom the SIU would be able to undertake future work.

“In the weeks leading up to our departure date, I was involved in making the practical arrangements for the Director’s proposed busy itinerary of personal meetings and organisation visits in seven countries. In the days prior to our departure, Greenwood engaged in some media promotion, being interviewed by the Australian Jewish Times who, in their edition of 6 August included the following comments:

‘A statement released by Mr Greenwood’s office defined the purposes of his visit abroad as:

 

• • to bring to the attention of the host government the resolve of the Australian Government to investigate allegations of war crimes by persons now resident in Australia and, where appropriate, to lay charges in respect of such matters where there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations made;

• • to assure the host government of the Australian Government’s

• • determination that actions in this regard are not to be taken as a slur on any particular ethnic group and will be based not on the ethnic origin of the person concerned but on their alleged behaviour;

• • to establish with the host government an understanding of the detailed policy of the Australian Government in respect of war crimes and of the particular legal processes necessary to fulfil the obligations arising from that policy;

• • to seek the cooperation of the host government and its agencies in the conduct of investigations necessary to be undertaken by the special investigations unit in furtherance of the policy of the Australian Government.

“The article also reported that:

He emphasised that the investigations are being conducted by a professional, hand-picked team which is approaching its task objectively “without bias one way or the other” and that “A most important aspect of my trip will be the visit to Moscow, where I hope to have talks with Soviet officials”.

“All in all, a broad based, sensitive and challenging agenda designed to lay the platform for, as quoted by Greenwood, ‘an operation unique in the sense that it has no precedent in Australian policing experience’ that he had to achieve to enable the work of the SIU to progress.

“We departed Sydney on 8 August 1987, as a ‘goodwill exercise’ and an opportunity of gauging the relevance of overseas archive holdings; we were not on an evidence gathering exercise. In Los Angeles, our first stop, we attended the Simon Wiesenthal Center. 

“I have memories of meeting and spending time with Mike Wolf, the then Deputy Director of the OSI, and his wife during our visit, being welcomed into their home and enjoying their genuine hospitality.  It was obvious that the relationship between the OSI (Mike) and the SIU (Bob) was in good hands and destined to flourish.  When Mike Wolf left the OSI, Greenwood placed him on a consultancy contract with the SIU, to assist with liaison with US organisations and witnesses.

From left to right – Bob Greenwood, Bob Gray, Mike Wolf and his wife Betty and Janet Greenwood

during the visit to Mike and Betty’s home in Washington DC

“On 19 August we flew to New York for visits with the American Jewish Congress and the United Nations Archives. We travelled to Canada on 23 August where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), in conjunction with the Canadian Justice Department, had set up an RCMP war crimes investigation unit not unlike the SIU, awaiting the introduction of recommended legislation by the Canadian Government. The main focus of our visit was to develop operational contacts and liaison between our two Units by identifying consistencies within our investigation philosophies and ‘setting the boundaries’ for proposed information, evidence, documentation and intelligence sharing on an ongoing basis.  In principal this goal was achieved without difficulty.

“At this time, the United Kingdom (UK) was still in the process of determining whether or not to pursue war crimes investigations. Irrespective of the pending outcome of the UK position, in order for the SIU to successfully pursue its investigative objectives, it was imperative that our main focus remained on ensuring the investigative co-operation of appropriate UK law enforcement agencies and also gaining access to their WWII historical archives and eminent historians.

“During the following week, our main focus was centred on developing a working relationship with the London Metropolitan Police and we were placed in the capable hands of the New Scotland Yard Extradition Squad, an experienced and capable group of officers with an extensive network of contacts throughout Europe.  Greenwood had had previous dealings with the Squad, as a Member of the NCA, when he was involved in the extradition to Australia of the drug lord, Bruce “Snapper” Cornwell.

“As with the RCMP in Canada, we were in a comfortable environment and, pending the outcome of the UK Government deliberations regarding the pursuit of war criminals in England and Scotland, we soon established lines of communication and a working rapport, based on the probability of future contact, with them. We visited UK Public Records Office at Kew Gardens and successfully negotiated approval to access their archival records.

“We then travelled to Germany. On 10 September we visited the Hanover City Archives and also the local Prosecutors’ Office. From there we went to Ludwigsburg where we were welcomed at the Central Office for Nazi Crimes. This Office had been referred to in a 1962 Times article headed ‘West Germany: War Crimes Unforgotten’, as being:

a West German government investigation agency organized in 1958 to coordinate the faltering prosecution efforts of the separate West German [States]… the Central Office includes a judge or prosecuting attorney from each of the ten [States] as well as West Berlin, plus a staff of 25 specialists who search out and study cache after cache of Hitler’s wartime records.  Their goal is always the same: new names and new evidence … [the] office does no prosecuting itself, simply hands its findings on to justice authorities in each [State].

“The Central Office was still operating on this basis when we visited in 1987 and we had no difficulty opening our lines of future communication and archival access with them.  Housed in Ludwigsburg’s old prison, we were very impressed with the fully cross referenced card archive system that provided both Greenwood and I with an insight into the need for the SIU to develop its own fully flexible computerised archival system with a single word search capability.

“On 12 September we flew from Munich to Tel Aviv.  We were due to depart Tel Aviv early on 18 September giving us only four days to achieve some important milestones. Open lines of communication and access to archive records was already ‘a given’ in Israel and we set about firming up operational, procedural and investigative understandings with the Jewish entities and persons involved.

“The Australian Jewish Times subsequently reported on 22 October 1987, regarding aspects of our Israel visit commenting that:

‘In Israel Mr Greenwood and Mr Gray spoke to the War Crimes prosecutors of Israel’s Department of Justice and to Lieutenant Colonel Russek, head of the War Crimes Unit of the Israeli Police. [Mr Greenwood said] “We were given an additional list of names by Efriam Zuroff, the Israeli representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles. This brought the number of names from the Centre to 77.”

“Whilst in Israel, Greenwood and I met with Zuroff who handed over another list of 12 potential suspects. I recall my first impression of Zuroff as being an imposing figure, an intelligent man, confident with a touch of arrogance. He was intensely passionate about his work, to the point where I felt that his passion, at times, might ‘cloud’ his judgement when expressing the high level of certainty he felt regarding the identity of names he included on his lists of suspects. On my return to Australia I scrutinised the details provided in his lists relating to Lithuanian suspects, and I brought my misgivings to the attention of the SIU Director.

“From Israel our next destination was Moscow. Flying with Aeroflot in 1987 was anything other than a pleasant experience. The plane appeared to be a converted military aircraft, economy class only and with no individual seat allocation. It was a ‘bit of a free for all’ when it came to getting our seats; however, we managed to arrive behind the ‘iron curtain’ in one piece and survive the rigours of a ‘communist state’ immigration and security clearance before being picked up by Australian Embassy staff. We pretty much spent the weekend preparing for our upcoming meeting with Soviet. For details of this important and historic mission to Moscow see my chapter in Nazis in Australia – The Special Investigations Unit – 1987-1994.

“On 1 October I returned to Sydney following the SIU’s ‘maiden voyage’.  I arrived satisfied and comfortable that our journey had placed the SIU in a position where it now had an investigative platform to build on. It was about this time, having recently retired from the NSW Police, Keith Conwell was engaged by Greenwood as the Deputy Director (Investigations) and took over the functions associated with that role.

“On my return to the SIU, I settled back into my role as a Senior Investigator and, together with John Jansen and Dick Letchford, spent the next few months focusing on the national based inquires of locating, identifying, and, where practicable, personally evaluating individual suspects. Among the more notable suspects that Letchford and I evaluated during this period were PU117 (Leonard Praks) in Canberra, PU245 (Ivan Polyukhovich) and PU113 (Ignas Taunys) both in Adelaide. During this time the War Crimes Act amendment bill had been introduced into Federal Parliament and the Director had again travelled overseas and successfully negotiated ‘letters of understanding’ with Yugoslavia and Hungary.

“From early 1988, the SIU experienced ongoing expansion. New names kept appearing on the roster and two that come readily to mind were Analysts Ann Dowd and Julie Laycock; both very accomplished in their field and long-term assets to the Unit. The relationships with overseas investigation teams were paying dividends with information regarding potential eye witnesses being provided and, as such, further overseas travel to Israel by Unit investigators was undertaken.

“To cope with the SIU’s rapid rate of expansion in the Unit, additional staff were sought and appointed, culminating in the appointment on 12 September 1988 of former NCA lawyer, Graham Blewitt, as Deputy Director (Legal), followed by the employment, initially in an advisory capacity, of Associate Professor in the School of German Studies at the University of NSW, Professor Konrad Kwiet, at the end of October.

“I had also been talking with Bill Beale, a former workmate and ACT/AFP detective, and had recommended him to Greenwood as being a person who had the investigative background, experience, integrity, management skills and administrative qualifications to successfully fill an SIU Investigators role. He commenced with the SIU in October 1988 and was attached to the group that I was responsible for; a welcome addition to the Unit and proving to be a very capable and valuable asset to the SIU.  He was also highly skilled in the application of computer software analytical programs, a skill which contributed greatly towards the SIU developing a computer program that enabled analysts, investigators, historians and others to conduct single word searches of the Unit information database.

“It was during September 1988 I realised that I had an extremely difficult decision to make. It was obvious that the point had been reached where the life of the SIU was going to have to be extended for a number of years, well beyond the tenure of my secondment period; due to expire on 2 April 1989.

“Family and career wise, I was not in a position to consider an extension beyond the due date and, with a sense of personal satisfaction derived from having participated in achieving a significant milestone within the development and operation of the Unit, I dutifully discussed my dilemma with the Director, Deputy Director (Investigations) and the Chief Investigator. On 10 October 1988, Keith Conwell formerly advised the AFP that, by agreement, my last working with the SIU would be, 2 December 1988 and that, following a period of annual leave, my secondment termination date be amended to, 20 January 1989.”