The ACT's top prosecutor has apologised to the Australian Federal Police after his office released an explosive letter under freedom of information laws without consulting the force first.
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In a statement tendered to an inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann case, Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC conceded the error occurred after he sent an email without due thought.
Mr Lehrmann, a former Liberal Party staffer, stood trial in the ACT Supreme Court last year after denying allegations he raped ex-colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House when the pair worked together.
After Mr Lehrmann's trial was aborted because of juror misconduct, Mr Drumgold wrote to the ACT's chief police officer, AFP Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan, to make complaints and call for the inquiry.
Among his allegations was a claim that investigators had inappropriately pressured him not to prosecute Mr Lehrmann, and that they had aligned themselves with defence lawyers after a charge was laid.
About a month after Mr Drumgold wrote the letter, and a few days after the charge was discontinued, the document was captured in a freedom of information request sent to his office by the Guardian.
His statement says his information officer, Katie Cantwell, forwarded him the request and expressed her view that the material it captured was likely to be subject to legal professional privilege.
A few hours later, Ms Cantwell asked via email: "This is the letter you are happy for me to release under FOI to the Guardian?"
Mr Drumgold responded 15 minutes after receiving this email, writing: "I am happy for it to go out."
"When sending that email I had not given it due thought," he said in his statement to the inquiry.
"I had understood Ms Cantwell's query to be whether I considered that legal professional privilege applied to the ... letter, and my answer was directed to that question.
"I had anticipated that aside from considering the question of privilege, Ms Cantwell was still to consider the other requirements of the [Freedom of Information] Act, such [as] whether disclosure of the information would be in the public interest or whether consultation with third parties, such as the AFP, would be required and whether parts should be redacted.
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"I acknowledge that my response to Ms Cantwell risked being interpreted, as it subsequently was, that the letter was to be sent out without further consideration of other relevant FOI considerations."
Mr Drumgold said he understood Ms Cantwell emailed the letter, without any redactions, to the Guardian later that evening.
A revised copy was provided a few days later, this time with the names of police officers and other people redacted.
The release of the letter, without consultation, prompted the executive general manager of ACT Policing and a staff member from the Australian Federal Police Association to complain to the ACT Ombudsman.
A copy of the ombudsman's final report was attached to Mr Drumgold's statement and published online by the inquiry, which subsequently removed a link to the relevant document so it could not be accessed.
However, Mr Drumgold's statement reveals he took steps "in keeping with" recommendations the ombudsman made in January.
"I wrote a letter of apology to the AFP and arranged further training of the [office of the Director of Public Prosecutions] information officer," he said in his statement.
Mr Drumgold said he was also arranging for the ACT government solicitor's office to provide freedom of information training for himself and his fellow executives.
The top prosecutor spent last week in the witness box at the inquiry, which is scrutinising his conduct, along with the actions of police and the ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner, in Mr Lehrmann's case.
His oral evidence has not yet finished, meaning he will need to return at a time that is yet to be fixed.
Police officers are set to take the stand when public hearings of the inquiry resume next week.
