Informant paid for top cop's eye surgery

By Katherine Danks 

The Daily Telegraph

June 10, 2011 1:58PM

FORMER NSW Crime Commission assistant commissioner Mark Standen says he had laser eye surgery paid for by a criminal informant.

In the Supreme Court today, Standen said English-born informant James Henry Kinch offered to pay for the surgery as a Christmas present in 2005.

Mark Standen

Standen said he organised for the money to be transferred to the bank account of friend Bakhos Jalalaty to "thinly disguise" the transaction from the Crime Commission.

He expected to receive about $5,000 from Kinch, and was surprised when Jalalaty informed him $47,500 had been transferred.

The transfer of money was against Crime Commission rules, but Standen said he had known Kinch for two years and did not believe it had compromised their handler-informant relationship.

In other evidence, Standen described his former work at the Crime Commission as "long and hectic" and that he knew he could not continue in the role forever.

Standen, Kinch and Jalalaty discussed new business opportunities and it was "implied" they would go into business together, the court was told.

Standen is standing trial for conspiring with Kinch and Jalalaty to bring $120 million worth of pseudoephedrine into Australia in 2008.

The case continues.