Application of Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; NSW Crime Commission v Yucel [2017] NSWSC 1779

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Application of Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd; NSW Crime Commission v Yucel [2017] NSWSC 1779 Hearing dates: 17 October 2017 Date of orders: 29 January 2018 Decision date: 29 January 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Lonergan J Decision: Application granted in part; application otherwise refused. Catchwords: MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS LAW – application by media outlet for access to file – proceedings originally heard in closed court – open justice – fair and accurate coverage of court proceedings – risk that publication will affect future proceedings Legislation Cited: Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 36.12 Cases Cited: John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v District Court of New South Wales (2004) 61 NSWLR 344; [2004] NSWCA 324 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: New South Wales Crime Commission (Plaintiff) Savas Yucel aka Savas Guven (Defendant) Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (Applicant) Representation: Counsel: P Beattie, solicitor (Applicant) T Glover (Plaintiff)

Solicitors: Banki Haddock Fiora (Applicant) NSW Crime Commission (Plaintiff) Kiki Kyriacou Lawyers (Defendant) File Number(s): 2017/301943

Judgment

Background facts 1. On 6 October 2017 I made various freezing orders pursuant to the Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW) on the application of the New South Wales Crime Commission ("NSWCC"). At the time, given the nature of the orders sought, I made an order that my reasons were not to be published and I conducted the proceedings in a closed court. This was because I accepted the submission made by the NSWCC that the Defendant if given notice about the application or learning of it having been made, may quickly dispose of interests in property including interests in real property and shares, and if that occurred the orders sought would be defeated. 2. On 9 October 2017, the Court's media liaison personnel received an email headed "Application to Access a Court File" from Michael Evans, a journalist writing for Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd ("Fairfax") at the Sydney Morning Herald. The application sought leave to inspect the summons "and any other publicly available information". The purpose was stated to be to assist in the fair and accurate coverage of court proceedings. 3. Given at that stage the Court was not aware as to whether the freezing orders had been served upon the Defendant and other affected persons and organisations, and that at that stage there was no "publicly available information", I declined to make the summons or any other documents available and sought written submissions in support of the application. I also made a short term suppression order to protect the potential publication of the fact that the NSWCC had made an application involving the defendant, as I was of the view publication of that fact alone could defeat the purpose of the orders if the defendant became aware of the application and could divest himself of the assets subject to the order. That suppression order was lifted on 12 October 2017 immediately upon notification that the order had been served on all relevant persons and organisations.