Council advocates have welcomed a court decision upholding the dismissal of charges against a former Ipswich mayor.

The Court of Appeal has decided to uphold the District Court’s ruling to dismiss the charges against former Ipswich Mayor Andrew Antoniolli.

The former policeman became mayor in 2017 after Paul Pisasale was charged with corruption offences, and was found guilty of fraud in 2019.

However, the decision was overturned on appeal.

The state’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) had alleged that on 11 occasions during his time as a councillor on the Ipswich City Council, Mr Antoniolli bid on items at charity auctions and paid for them with the council’s community donations fund.

In 2019, Mr Antoniolli was found guilty because he knew the council’s donations policy did not permit the use of the community fund to obtain a personal benefit. 

The magistrate found he gained personal benefit to boost his profile as a councillor by propagating goodwill in the community.

Mr Antoniolli appealed against the decision, leading to a ruling last December that the use of the council’s community donations fund to pay for charity auction items was not contrary to council policy. 

Evidence suggested Mr Antoniolli reasonably believed that the practice was allowed, provided he did not benefit personally.

“We now have yet another former Mayor left picking up the pieces after having his life and reputation badly damaged by the laying of charges by police officers seconded to the Crime and Corruption Commission that have – yet again - ultimately been found to be baseless,” Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) CEO Alison Smith said this week.

“This cannot go on. It is damaging not only to those wrongly charged but is also undermining public confidence in the CCC and the local government sector as a whole.

“The community must have confidence in both.

“That’s why the LGAQ called for the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commission to inquire into the CCC’s actions.

“That inquiry is due to report back at the end of this month and we look forward to the committee’s recommendations.”

Some see it as another embarrassing blow for Queensland’s corruption watchdog, which has recently seen the dropping of its charges against seven Logan councillors, failure of several prosecutions relating to Ipswich council, and the acquittal of former top cop Michelle Stenner last week, who was facing a perjury charge.

CCC chair Alan MacSporran is facing calls to resign.