Doing an act tending and intending to pervert the course of public justice[3] is an offence under the common law of England and Wales.
(3) Without restricting the generality of subsection (2), every one shall be deemed wilfully to attempt to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice who in a judicial proceeding, existing or proposed, In New South Wales, the equivalent offence is set out in Section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).
In 1985 Murray Farquhar, the former Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of New South Wales, was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice to have charges against Kevin Humphreys dismissed and sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison.
[10] In 2009 Marcus Einfeld, a former Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, was sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison after pleading guilty to making a false statement with intent to pervert the course of justice.
Arrest warrants were issued against three people for their alleged attempts to make witnesses withdraw statements or refuse to testify to the court.