Ham was the cop code for $20,000 cash

Lisa Davies From: The Daily Telegraph March 31, 2011 5:12am

Source: The Daily Telegraph

A FORMER top policeman was allegedly given a "special" Christmas ham, along with $20,000 cash.

Former AFP officer and NSW Crime Commission assistant director Mark Standen is accused of conspiring with Bakhos "Bill" Jalalaty and a former informant, James Henry Kinch, to import 300kg of the drug pseudoephedrine.

He denies any involvement in the conspiracy, his lawyer telling a Supreme Court jury that he believed he was only helping the pair to import rice.

But with the second importation of rice apparently en route, allegedly containing the pseudoephedrine, Jalalaty and Standen were heard discussing their festive plans.

In a tapped mobile phone conversation on December 14, 2007, Standen tells Jalalaty: "I need to give you a Christmas ham from B52, a nice Christmas ham, oh you know, our famous Christmas hams."

The court has heard B52 was a code-name for Kinch.

After the call was played to the jury, Federal Agent Paul Watt told the court there was a ham, but also $20,00