Robert Ovadia with Seven's series of Walkley Award winning reports on the ADF and General Morrison

Seven News Report when leftenant General David Morrison told the country seventeen army personnel were being investigated over drug allegations sex tapes and emails demeaning women he called it a joint police and defense inquiry the matters under investigation was serious tonight we reveal what the defense force hasn't that two years ago it found no officer had a case to answer a conclusion New South Wales Police now allege was negligent and deliberately misleading despite the ADF initially identifying at least 10 people of interest 7 News has been told not one of them was even interviewed not even the man whose alleged actions sparked the scandal the Army reservist is accused of secretly videoing sex with a Victorian woman and emailing images over the defense restricted email network those images and more were allegedly shared by up to 60 army personnel but the ADF initially found there was no evidence offensive material had been forwarded by its officers other acts of vulgarity have since identified seven civilian and military female victims the Defence Force has told us once it identified potential criminal charges but only against the civilian Army reservists a police investigation should take residents so they handed it over but we've learned the ADF did not consider even disciplining its own officers let alone recommending charges now 17 men are under investigation eight are suspended three faced criminal charges as police accused the ADF of covering up the scandal when detectives started to make inquiries last July defense allegedly denied to police that crucial email evidence even existed and once detectives uncovered it refused to hand it over on the basis of national security police have told prosecutors the ADF was obstructive that it drip fed evidence to detectives and gave only one statement to police in nine months in one email the colonel asked a colleague why police are even involved suggesting we need to close the loop on this in March a crisis meeting was held here in Sydney with another Army colonel and an Air Force Wing Commander police threatened to raid the ADF offices in Canberra if the obstruction continued and only then was the chief of army and defence minister stephen smith formally told despite repeated requests to speak with mr. smith his office did not return one of our calls or text messages on the ADF has now been forced to reopen its investigation I have instructed at first to pursue any and all service offenses that might apply something left 10 and general Morrison might have done two years ago if only he'd been told what was happening in his army Robert o Varia Seven News two soldiers at the Jedi Council heart of the Army's so-called Jedi Council scandal we will not identify whether they are still serving or among six sacked by the army this is a certain way so you go to war and likewise to measure that against cross text which is taken in context you can see that crass text and imagery was sent between 17 soldiers later investigated by the defense force in New South Wales police Hastings Fredrickson is accused of secretly filming himself having sex with a Victorian woman then emailing those images on the Army's official defence restricted Network the content of those emails what do you think of them the content was press I'm not innocent I didn't reporters I would never show these arrests my mother is one block sending emails to a group of his friends trying to make himself a quarter hero do you regret replying yes absolutely a group dynamics a the soldiers where they are conditioned to support each other fanatically some say they reprimanded Frederickson privately but all except they were wrong to foolish or weak to ignore the emails when Fredrickson was sacked from the Army Reserve then 17 soldiers learned they were being investigated including some who did not even reply the general council was the invention of one man and one man only and by just reporters emails the army garnishing 7 News has also spoken with others serving and former soldiers at the heart of the investigation each feels they deserved punishment would say the Army's response was way over the top merely to suit a political agenda that bitterness the feeling that the army they had literally offered their lives to serve and scapegoat of them led to dark times and there was one stage where you had a gun in your mouth yes what screw two others tried to kill themselves both were put into psychiatric care such was the sense of shame and betrayal to most people for me to get them some justice I've been kicked like they were cheap secondhand bits of furniture being thrown out on the curb they've not been recognized for the work they've done they've not had their good past their creditable service recognized at all Robert I've idea Seven News General Morrison fighting words from a fighting man it's time to act sharing the United Nations stage with Hollywood's superstars and world leaders at a global summit on sexual violence leftenant General David Morrison had one worldwide acclaim condemning the mistreatment of women after breaking news of the Jedi Council sex scandal in his army I was made aware of it on return on the 12th of April that is April 2013 but the Defense Forces own internal findings show the most senior staff in the generals office had been told nine months earlier that New South Wales detectives were investigating Australian soldiers associated with the investigation reads the report were a number of army personnel ranking from Lance Corporal to major who called themselves the Jedi Council the generals military advisor leftenant Colonel John Fenwick took the initial call from police on July 23 2012 eight days later in an email he mentioned that he would brief Chief of Army David Morrison the generals chief of staff Colonel Lee Wilton confirms that on August 1 an incident report summary provided to general Morrison would have prompted the discussion to say we've got this individual this is what's going on with him because this is what we do daily with the chief that individual was Hastings Fredrickson an Army reservist who emailed sexual images of an unwitting Victorian woman to Australian soldiers many of whom responded with vulgarity the Defence Force claims this was all just a big misunderstanding that it thought only Frederickson a civilian was being investigated however senior police have told 7 News the highest levels of the army were told serving soldiers were also under scrutiny and that the army subsequently did everything it could to stymie the police investigation for nine months 17 army personnel were questioned by police after the senior rank of Lieutenant Colonel and the Chief of Army took no action against any of them the soldiers tell us the ADF had previously cleared all of them that the army finally made the scandal public only after it became apparent the police investigation was not going away and what you are seeing here today's evidence of that change and my commitment to greater transparency I think the army saw something that was gonna damage the reputation of the organization so I essentially we were not you know perfect candidates who being sacked and political reasons six soldiers were sacked based on evidence the army had done nothing about for three years John Sutton defended two of them he says a formal inquiry needs to establish why the general did not make it public for nearly a year organizations such as this the police and others have daily briefings on significant issues and it really does beg a belief to think that he wouldn't have been told and he wouldn't be informed of such a dramatic and important issue going on in his own organization Hastings Fredrickson he would have Hastings Fredrickson has unique knowledge of how one of the Australian Army's most damaging sex scandals played out he's at the center of it I'm the bad guy no I got no problems with like severing my service terminating my service but he wanted to throw six guys under the bus to whitewash our army sins and that just wasn't gonna cut it he is retired army chief David Morrison who broke news of the Jedi Council scandal in June 2013 I was made aware of it on return on the 12th of April a 7:00 news investigation subsequently revealed police had in fact informed the generals most senior staff nine months earlier that Australian soldiers were under investigation for pornographic emails sent by Fredrickson and shared by many others after our investigation aired in January the general refused our request for an interview and always has two weeks ago he conceded to the ABC our story was correct but that his most senior advisors had never told him about a police investigation into Australian soldiers because it wasn't important enough even for the following nine months where 17 soldiers were implicated the general insists staffers told him nothing we're talking about high performance individuals working at the office of the chief army not muppets so for him I find in my opinion farcical that he says are a staffer didn't think it was important enough the army was already on high alert from the adverse Cobb scandal for months before the general claims to have learnt about the scandal Frederiksen says police made an appointment to charge him and then were advised that the office of the Chief of Army had stepped in and had somehow delay the investigation ongoing what my lawyer just said it's been put on hold then in June 2013 when general Morrison broke the news the former Army Signal and knew he'd be sacked so he handed in this discharge notice it is dated June 17 four days after the generals news conference to expire hang up and I said what's going on - my handler and he said you're not allowed to get out general Morrison has to be seen to kick you out the army announced Fredrickson's dismissal three months later the first rule of crisis management is get in front of the story and control the narrative and that's exactly what general Morrison did general Morrison has since become a hero for feminism worldwide when he held his famous news conference that day he neglected to tell the country one thing that the army had previously cleared every soldier of wrongdoing including Fredrickson Rob Livadia 7 News