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| Under pressure ... Detective Sergeant Christopher Laycock. Courtesy Channel 10. |
Sergeant Christopher Laycock, who was suspended last week, also told the Police Integrity Commission of the immense pressure on his family since he first admitted to the pay-off last Friday.
Asked if he knew a man named Jahangir Shagaev, Sgt Laycock said he met him two months ago.
Sgt Laycock said Mr Shagaev had, "purported to have some big contact in the Russian community".
"He said he had some contacts in the Russian mafia, major fraudsters, pretty bad people and so forth," he told the commission hearing.
Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Stephen Rushton, SC, if Mr Shagaev had asked Sgt Laycock to help with a friend of the Russian's who was in trouble with the law, Sgt Laycock replied it was "possible".
The commission had recordings of several conversations between Sgt Laycock's friend, Chris Walker, and Mr Shagaev in which the latter repeatedly asked for help in relation to a friend facing 10 fraud-related charges.
In one recording, Mr Shagaev asked Mr Walker to hurry because his friend wanted to leave the country.
Another recording had Mr Walker asking Sgt Laycock if the police officer could discuss a matter related to "Big R".
"Come and see me," Sgt Laycock told Mr Walker in the conversation dated August 27, 2004.
On Friday, Sgt Laycock admitted to being paid nearly $4,000 from a child porn suspect in Operation Auxin for tipping off a suspect two days before his house was raided.
"I've had a fairly stressful weekend," Sgt Laycock told the commission.
Sgt Laycock said he had been under enormous pressure from "just about everyone I've ever spoken to in my life".
"My wife is under immense pressure and so am I," he said.
