No idea of evidence in Haneef case: Andrews

The former Australian immigration minister says he was in dark about the vital evidence of Mohamed Haneef's innocence when he cancelled his visa last year.

Former Australian immigration minister Kevin Andrews was apparently in dark about the vital evidence of accused Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef's innocence when he cancelled his visa last year.

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Andrews will tell the government ordered inquiry into the bungled case, which opens on Wednesday, that Australian Federal Police did not inform him of evidence debunking allegations against Dr Haneef's second-cousin Sabeel Ahmed - allegations that had led to the subsequent terrorism charge against the Gold Coast doctor.

The inquiry, headed by former Supreme Court judge John Clarke, will raise question whether the AFP ignored the vital information or, if it was ever passed on to Australian probe after it was revealed by British police, days after the failed London nightclub and Glasgow airport bombings in June last year, 'The Australian' daily said on Wednesday.

The inquiry will open on Wednesday with a directions hearing in Canberra that is expected to hear submissions from Haneef's lawyers calling on Attorney-General Robert McClelland to grant Clarke inquiry powers to ensure documents are released and witnesses compelled to give evidence and face cross-examination.

Haneef, 27, who was wrongly accused of supporting a terror organisation after his SIM card was allegedly found with the accused in the failed UK car bombings last year, returned to India after spending three weeks in detention as his work visa was cancelled by Andrews on "character grounds".

Meanwhile, Queensland Law Society president Megan Mahon, in a letter last month to Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the Rudd Government had broken a pre-election promise to set up an "independent judicial inquiry" into the case.