In a letter of complaint addressed to the Australian Federal Police, former Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold alleged she “engaged in direct coaching of the defence cross-examination of the complainant”.

Senator Reynolds launched a defamation case against him and the ACT government in December after the document was published by media, claiming it caused significant loss and damage.

And on Friday, all parties reached a compromised settlement.

Senator Reynolds has been paid $70,000 in damages and $20,000 in legal fees.

That was in addition to the Federal Government payout for $2.4 million, which included $1.48 million for lost earning capacity.

Channel Ten and former The Project host Lisa Wilkinson have been arguing in court who should pay Wilkinson’s legal fees, finds spent when Wilkinson opted to pay her own lawyers. Channel lost the case and will have to pay the legal fees.

The ACT government also issued a formal apology and retracted the allegations contained in Mr Drumgold’s letter while directing current DPP staff not to publish further allegations against the former defence minister.

“We accept that allegations about Senator Reynolds made by the former Director of Public Prosecutions were found by the Board of Inquiry to be defamatory,” a Justice and Community Safety Directorate spokesperson said.

“We will not be commenting further on this matter.”

Lehrmann was accused of raping fellow political staffer Brittany Higgins inside Senator Reynolds’ ministerial office in 2019, but his 2022 trial was abandoned due to jury misconduct and a retrial was called off due to concerns about Ms Higgins’ health.

He has denied the accusations.

AAP has reached out to Senator Reynolds for comment.

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