Michael Pascoe writes:

WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty seems to be
in a mood to grant Crikey’s wish that Warren Anderson suffer major legal costs
from his attempt to grab taxpayers’ money – part of our desire not to forget
Anderson’s role in PNG public sector super funds being dudded in a highly
dubious Cairns real estate deal.

The Smagereports McGinty is vowing to recover millions of dollars in legal costs from Anderson. Anderson has
claimed his own legal fees have already run to $5 million but he’s prepared to
try the High Court next after losing in the Federal. “They’ve
been persecuting me for 18 years and they’re not going to get away with
it,” Anderson reportedly said. Oh, poor baby.

So will McGinty
really keep the messy business of Labor’s shady WA Inc past in the public eye
by continuing to fight Anderson? Somehow I think a betting man might
figure letting the legal bills go would be a reasonable quid pro quo if Anderson forgets about an appeal. And maybe that’s
what Anderson is thinking too. After all, it would be
an odd bod who kept going when, as The Smage puts it:

A bizarre twist to the case was a
deed which Mr Anderson signed in December 1988 releasing the premier, his
ministers, the SGIC and its officers from any liability for damages.

Mr Anderson insisted he never
intended to release the state from liability. The judge did not accept this,
ruling everyone concerned had intended to release the state.