Slater & Gordon lawyers and the accounting firm BDO Kendall (now BDO) conducted a forensic investigation into Craig Thomson’s fraud at the HSU in 2009. Below is six pages of their report.
After reading this post what becomes obvious is the Fair Work Australia report is nothing more than a glorified, delayed and rebadged Slater and Gordon / BDO report which was completed in 2009. So why did FWA take so long (28th March 2012) to complete their report?
This report is extremely important as it shows who knew what and when. As far back as 2009 the HSU, Fair Work Australia and the Labor party were well aware that Mr Thomson fraudulently ripped of the union. So why the delay in any action? Also there are a few people who actually believe the lies that Craig Thomson told in his address to parliament and the conspiracy theory he put forward which makes the report relevant.
A brief overview for readers who have not followed the story. Craig Thomson worked for the Health Services Union (HSU) for many years. In 2007 he was elected to federal parliament. After he was elected the HSU did an audit (2008) and found he had ripped off the union mainly using his credit card for such things as prostitutes, Nike shoes, electrical goods, election funding and cash withdrawals etc which totals over $500,000.
The HSU brought in the law firm Slater & Gordon to investigate and then brought in the accounting firm BDO Kendall (now BDO) in February 2009 for a forensic investigation of the fraud. In March 2009 it was brought to the attention of the AIR, firstly by an anonymous tip and then by a formal complaint from the HSU. (Click here to see the FWA report starting at page 26 paragraph 49 for the details) The AIR started making initial inquiries.
“On 8 April 2009 the Sydney Morning Herald published a story alleging that Craig Thomson used union credit cards to pay for prostitutes, withdraw over $100,000 in cash and fund his election campaign for the federal seat of Dobell. Thomson sued the newspaper for defamation, but withdrew proceedings when evidence was produced showing that the payments were made from his credit card, his drivers licence was checked and photocopied, and phone calls to escort agencies were made from his mobile phone and hotel rooms.” (Click here to read more on Wikipedia)
In June 2009 the completed report was given to the National Executive of the HSU. A copy of the report was sent to the AIR which was part of the Australian Industrial Relation Commission (the predecessor to FWA). By the end of 2009 the AIRC and AIR had closed and FWA had taken over (FWA started in July 2009 which means there was a six month transitional period). In the FWA report it can be seen where they are talking about the Slater / BDO report in November 2009 so they had the report at least by then and highly likely earlier if not in June when the AIR already had it.
It has come to light in recent days of a so-called “smoking gun” email which The Australian has reported as:
“FAIR Work Australia was advised three years ago that it should consider referring the investigation into the Health Services Union and embattled MP Craig Thomson to police.”
“An email obtained by the Coalition in Senate Estimates shows FWA was advised on June 30, 2009 the day before it began formal operations that it should devise a “clear plan” for referral to authorities including police and professional licensing bodies.” (Click here to read more)
The email was sent from Doug Williams the then chief executive of the AIRC to Terry Nassios who headed up the investigation into Mr Thomson. The actual investigation did not start until March 2010 although inquires had started earlier as I mentioned above.
The email is important and very powerful but it is the Slater & Gordan / BDO report that is the major smoking gun. It does not matter whether or not Terry Nassios was advised to take it to the police, the Slater & Gordon / BDO report which he had was enough reason why he should have gone to the police which the six pages below show.
Terry Nassios and Fair Work Australia finished their report in March 2012. The investigation was overseen firstly by FWA general manager Tim Lee, a former union official and Labor appointee who was later promoted to the bench then by Bernadette O’Neill another former union official.
Below are the pages with the key parts highlighted then the questions that they raise.
As mentioned the Slater & Gordon / BDO report is mentioned in the Fair Work Australia report and is actually attached as annexure J. Unfortunately even though the report is readily available on-line the annexure is not. This needs to be made public in full.
1. Why did Craig Thomson not mention Slater and Gordon and the accounting firm BDO as part of the conspiracy against him in his speech to parliament? Why did he not mention the conspiracy of HSU officials including Victorian HSU official Marco Bolano of setting him up with hookers when he was interviewed by Slater and Gordon / BDO back in 2009. As we know because his conspiracy theory is just a straight out lie which has been shot down badly.
2. Fair Work Australia were given a copy of the Slater & Gordon report in 2009. Why did they not go to the police then? As has come out in the last few days they were advised that is something they should have looked at doing.
At section 73 of the FWA report it says:
A copy of the report by Slater & Gordon and BDO Kendalls (HSUNO.019.0050) (the BDO Kendalls Report) was received by the AIR on 17 June 2009 under cover of a letter from Slater & Gordon dated 16 June 2009 (HSUNO.019.0049). A copy of the BDO Kendalls Report is included at Appendix J to this report.
The AIR mentioned above is the Australian Industrial Relations Commission which is the predecessor to Fair Work Australia. The AIR closed at the end of 2009 and FWA took over. At the time the matter was in the hands of the AIR. Terry Nassios was also involved in the HSU inquiries at the AIR as he was then working at the AIR.
At page paragraph 67 of the FWA report it says “On 1 June 2009, in my capacity as Acting Industrial Registrar, I wrote to Ms Jackson (FWA.005.0073) acknowledging receipt of documents that were provided under cover of her letter dated 22 May 2009 (HSUNO.019.0134) and requesting that she also provide credit card statements and draft minutes.”
And at paragraph 68 it says “I received a letter dated 3 June 2009 (HSUNO.018.0484) from Ms Jackson advising that the report from Slater & Gordon would not be available by 4 June 2009” It was later delivered on the 17th of June. But Terry Nassios had to have known and seen the report back in June 2009 and he completed his report in March 2012. Slater and Gordon and BDO had done all the heavy lifting. Why did it take him so long? There is no believable excuse except that it was a deliberate go slow routine.
3. Why did the Labor party not take action earlier?
Former Labor politician, Graham Richardson has admitted that back in March 2010 he advised Craig Thomson to drop his defamation proceedings against Fairfax Media which Mr Thomson had initiated after Fairfax Media published the fraud allegation in April 2009.
Graham Richardson wrote in The Australian:
“I met Thomson in March 2010. I told him that I was aware that if he continued on with his defamation case against Fairfax he would be destroyed and inevitably he would be bankrupted. He denied everything about the Woolloomooloo brothel. I told him about the driver’s licence. He said that details of his driver’s licence had been copied by parties unknown. The only time he hesitated in his denials was when I told him that calls had been made on his mobile phone between the central coast and the city to the brothel in question. He could only say he had no explanation.”
“I told him that saying all these things had been stolen were ridiculous given that the phones, credit cards etc were used by him the very next day. He undertook to seek a settlement with Fairfax immediately. That was yet another lie. The case went on for more than a year after this and racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees which had to be paid by the NSW ALP to prevent his bankruptcy.” (Click here to read more)
If Graham Richardson knew that Craig Thomson was guilty of ripping off the union back in March 2010 then more senior people in the ALP would have known as well. Why did they not take action then? And why did they pay his legal bills if they knew he was guilty of a crime? Concealing a crime is a crime in itself. I am sure the police will be interviewing Graham Richardson very shortly if they already haven’t.
4. Criminal conduct of Tim Lee, Bernadette O’Neill and Terry Nassios
The former general manager of FWA Tim Lee, the current general manager Bernadette O’Neill and Terry Nassios are all clearly guilty of concealing the criminal offences of Craig Thomson. Once they where in receipt of the Slater & Gordon / BDO report they had an obligation to go to the police. They did not.
They are now refusing to be interviewed by the police who are conducting a criminal investigation into Mr Thomson. They say they can not legally be interviewed by the police because of the FWA Act/rules. This is a straight out lie. The reality is there are two key questions they do not want to answer.
1. Why did you not go to the police when you were given a copy of the Slater & Gordon / BDO report?
Answer by Terry Nassios: I was told not to by Tim Lee and then when Bernadette O’Neill took over as general manager she also told me not to.
Result: Police lay criminal charges against Time Lee and Bernadette O’Neill for concealing the criminal offences of Mr Thomson. And possibly Mr Nassios as well.
2. Why did it take so long to do the FWA investigation?
Answer by Terry Nassios: I was told to put the go slow routine on the investigation by Tim Lee and Bernadette O’Neill.
Result: Police lay criminal charges against Time Lee and Bernadette O’Neill for concealing the criminal offences of Mr Thomson. And possibly Mr Nassios as well.
FWA had a report from BDO who are a global accounting firm and it says on their website:
“Our team includes forensic investigators and risk management specialists who assist clients by providing practical and achievable strategies to reduce the risk of Fraud & Corruption” (Click here to read more)
The report was signed off by the well-known union and labor law firm Slater & Gordon who would not set up a labor politician. At that point FWA had no choice but to go to the police.
The FWA report is riddled with references to the Slater & Gordon / BDO report and even used as part of the questioning by FWA to Craig Thomson and others. Go to the FWA report and do a search for Slater and Gordon or BDO and you can see for yourself. As I said at the beginning the Fair Work Australia report in nothing more than a rebadged Slater & Gordon / BDO report. (Click here for the FWA report)
FWA have brought in an outside consultancy to review why they took so long to investigate Craig Thomson. The review is a waste of tax payers money. I have done my review above which the bottom line is that it took so long because of the criminal conduct of Tim Lee, Bernadette O’Neill and Terry Nassios.
Report on suspected irregularities in the expenditure of the HSU National Office
The above leaked report first hit the media at the end of March and was first reported by Steve Lewis and Andrew Clennell in the Sydney paper The Daily Telegraph (Click here to read). A copy of the six leaked pages hit my inbox not long after by one of my regular readers. But I decided not to publish it at that time as the Fair Work Australia report was due in the near future and was unsure how reliable the leaked pages were. But the Slater & Gordon / BDO report is referenced in the FWA report so the leak pages are highly likely authentic. After an on-line search Miranda Devine seems to be the first and only other person to have published the pages in full. (Click here to see) Although Andrew Bolt published part of it.
The Slater & Gordon / BDO report was relevant when The Daily Telegraph did the story and Miranda Devine published it. But it is a lot more relevant now we can see the FWA report referencing it so much. It needs to be made public and should be the starting point for a royal commission.
There is an online petition going called “The Thomson Resign Petition” which managed to get over 8,000 signatures in just over a week before it was taken down but is now back up. I phoned one of the petitioners and he told me it was taken down from the US host site probably because of some of the harsh comments in the comment section. It would be good for as many people as possible to sign it. I have. It does matter who you vote for or support, it is about sending a clear message to all politicians of what the Australian public expect and will not tolerate from their politicians. I am told it will be tendered to federal parliament. (Click here to sign the petition)
As a side note back at the end of February 2012 Electrical Trades Union New South Wales secretary Bernie Riordan “accused of pocketing $1.8 million in directors fees was appointed a commissioner of Fair Work Australia just the day after long-running legal action against him was withdrawn.” (Click here to read more) I wonder who put the call through to make sure the legal action was dropped so he could be appointed to FWA?
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