Two of the state's top police officers will work alongside each other in open warfare for at least a fortnight after bloodletting at the final day of a parliamentary inquiry into a long running bugging scandal.
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The feud between deputy commissioners Nick Kaldas and Catherine Burn boiled over on Tuesday after Mr Kaldas accused Ms Burn of raising his name with an informant later used to bug him more than a decade ago.
Ms Burn had earlier detailed serious corruption allegations against Mr Kaldas that had led him to be targeted by a bugging operation, codenamed Mascot, of which she was a member, codenamed Mascot, during 1999-2001.
But NSW Premier Mike Baird has insisted the earliest he will consider taking action over the matter is when the inquiry reports by February 25.
Mr Baird has indicated his preference is to wait for the outcome of a parallel inquiry by NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour which is not due to report until June.
During his appearance at the inquiry on Tuesday, Mr Kaldas produced what he said was an extract of an interview with the informant, M5, by Ms Burn when she was part of the internal affairs unit which targeted him during 1999-2001.
In it, the interviewer asks M5 if he knows Mr Kaldas and M5 replies that he does.
"The person that introduced my name to M5 was in fact Catherine Burn," Mr Kaldas announced.
But Ms Burn had earlier told the inquiry she could not recall if she had raised Mr Kaldas's name with M5 during the interview but had denied having a "vendetta" against Mr Kaldas.
Asked how he knew the interviewer was Ms Burn given that she is not named on the document, Mr Kaldas said he was told so and encouraged the inquiry to obtain the full transcript in order to confirm it.
Mr Kaldas said the extract was given to him by former crime commission director John Giorgiutti.
Last week Mr Giorgiutti gave evidence that during five days of interviews with M5 by Ms Burn and another officer, M5 did not raise Mr Kaldas's name in relation to corruption but was "asked about ... Kaldas and he was asked about no other officer other than Kaldas".
Mr Giorgiutti also said Mr Kaldas was not among the initial 19 police targeted by Mascot. Despite this, Mr Kaldas was later named on 80 listening device warrants in the operation.
"I don't think Neddy Smith has ever been subject to 80 warrants," Mr Kaldas quipped.
On Tuesday Mr Kaldas also produced documents detailing interviews with two former internal affairs officers discussing his targeting by M5.
Mr Kaldas read from one of the interviews, where an officer discusses police being "unfairly targeted" by Mascot and states that: "Kaldas, to me, was the worst out of the lot. They just didn't seem to want to let that matter go".
He also read from M5's hurt on duty claim, where he said he was "used to settle old scores".
The inquiry has previously heard from Mr Kaldas that he was in conflict with John Dolan, the head of the internal affairs unit running Mascot.
However, Ms Burn outlined in writing for the committee allegations against Mr Kaldas which gave her "reasonable suspicion" that he knew of or was engaged in corrupt behaviour and therefore a legitimate target.
They included that Mr Kaldas and the other officer wrongly arrested an armed robbery suspect, then "planted firearm exhibits near a cemetery" and Mr Kaldas "fabricated alleged admissions in an official notebook".
A second allegation nominated by Ms Burn is the alleged theft of money. Ms Burn said her recollection is not clear but she "believes it refers to a matter known as the Orange Armaguard robbery".
A third was that Mr Kaldas had leaked that M5 was using a listening device.
Ms Burn acknowledged that she no longer believed the allegations because Mr Kaldas had twice been promoted and that would not have occurred unless he had been cleared and Commissioner Andrew Scipione had stated he was cleared by the Police Integrity Commission.
But Mr Kaldas said any suggestion the "historic" allegations justified deploying a listening device against him was "preposterous".
"I would have preferred Deputy Burn to express some regret for what appears to have been poor decision-making early on in her career," Mr Kaldas said. "That didn't happen".
However, he said he forgave Ms Burn and the Mascot investigators because "I believe in Christian forgiveness".
