Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev is now using legal threats and the courts in an attempt to shut-up whistleblowers regarding the massive fraud and theft at the bank. Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop’s younger brother Douglas Bishop is the lawyer representing Commonwealth Bank executive Brendan French in defamation proceedings against whistleblower Michael Fraser. This raises many questions by itself.
I have seen some dumb moves and this one by the Commonwealth Bank is right up there with the dumbest as it will continue to put the spotlight on the bank’s corrupt practices. It will also potentially expose the government given Mr Bishop’s involvement and the government’s refusal to have a Royal Commission into the CBA.
Background
Investment fund advisors at the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) have been ripping millions of dollars off customers by fraudulently manipulating their super funds. The advisors do this to increase their bonuses which can be $100,000’s. In doing so the advisors have lost 1000’s of customers a lot of their super funds.
This came to light in the media last year. For example the ABC’s Four Corners program had the story Banking Bad which even named at least one corrupt bank employee, Don Nguyen. Mr Nguyen has never been charged and under the leadership of Ian Narev. The CBA has deliberately concealed the evidence from the police. (Click here to watch the program or read the transcript).
The Federal Senate had an inquiry last year and recommended a Royal Commission into the Commonwealth Bank because the bank refused to answer many questions asked of it by the senators. (Click here to read more)
Two previous articles are worth re-reading in relation to corruption at the CBA’s which covers its subsidiary Bankwest (Click here to read the article) and I also mentioned CBA corruption to a degree in a post on Westpac. (Click here to read) So the CBA has plenty of form on the board for corruption and they just continue day in day out like it is standard practice.
Michael Fraser – whistleblower & advocate for whistleblowers
Michael Fraser runs the website The Arbitrator and has been mentioned on this site before in relation to his battle with the Commonwealth Bank on behalf of unhappy customers. Previously I mentioned the dodgy warning letter sent to Mr Fraser from CBA Executive John Geurts. (Click here to read the letter)
Mr Geurts has been up to his handiwork again and sent another letter but now the grub has gone even further and implied that Mr Fraser could have broken the law by not going to the police with his evidence of corruption at the CBA.
The lying and deceiving John Geurts
It is worth noting Mr Geurts background which includes 19 years as a Federal Police officer (AFP) from 1981 to 2000. When he left the AFP he went straight to the Commonwealth Bank as Head of Security with a focus on fraud and corruption control. I wonder if Mr Geurts rings his mates at the AFP to make sure they do not investigate corruption at the CBA? It might explain why the AFP have done bugger all. (Click here to read his LinkedIn profile)
Given the massive fraud and corruption that everyone knows is happening at the Commonwealth Bank it is fair to say that John Geurts is not doing his job and he is negligent and derelict in his duties not only for the CBA but for the shareholders and customers as well. The reality is that Mr Geurts has been given the green light from the CEO Ian Narev and the Directors to cover-up the fraud and corruption at the CBA.
The latest threatening letter from John Geurts to Mr Fraser is below:
(Click here to read the 2 letters from Mr Fraser to Mr Geurts which preceded Mr Geurts above letter) (The above letter is freely available on Mr Fraser’s Facebook page and his Twitter account and given he did not edit the address out I have not either)
John Geurts only has to do a Google search or watch the Four Corners Banking Bad episode and he would have more than enough evidence of corruption at the CBA to keep the police going for years. So for Mr Geurts to play stupid and say he has not been provided any evidence is a disgrace.
But the big attempt at intimidation by Mr Geurts is to suggest to Mr Fraser that he may have breached section 316 of the NSW Crimes Act 1990 which is “Concealing serious indictable offence”. (Click here to read more) It basically means if you have evidence of a crime and you do not go to the police then you have committed a crime by concealing it.
Mr Geurts is suggesting to Mr Fraser that if he has evidence of fraud at the CBA he needs to go to the police otherwise he might end up in jail. Mr Geurts is trying to intimidate Mr Fraser to shut up.
The sad part is that John Geurts is clearing in breach of section 316 of the NSW Crimes Act 1990 and should be in jail along with the CEO and Directors of the CBA. For starters there is former CBA advisor Don Nguyen (as mentioned on Banking Bad) who ripped off customers and Mr Geurts is covering it up. Mr Geurts is a former Australian Federal Police officer and is clearly well aware that he is committing crimes by concealing the fraud and corruption at the CBA. Mr Geurts letter is basically an admission of guilt but he is too stupid to realise it.
Mr Geurts might also want to explain why he had private investigators stalking Mr Fraser in 2013 as reported in the SMH.
“An undercover surveillance operation ordered by the Commonwealth Bank has embroiled the institution in a spying scandal, with senior MPs monitored and photographed by private detectives investigating one of its critics.” (Click here to read more)
Choice Shonky Award
CBA even managed to pick up an Shonky Award from consumer advocacy website Choice last year. (Click here to read more) Below is a YouTube video they did which is worth a watch. I wonder if CBA CEO Ian Narev will sue Choice for defamation given the below video?
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Julie Bishop – Personal interest – Conflict of interest
Late last year the Commonwealth Bank executive Brendan French instituted defamation proceedings against Michael Fraser. In October last year the Federal Government rejected a bipartisan call for a Royal Commission into the Commonwealth Bank by a Senate inquiry. (Click here to read more) At the same time as the government was deciding whether or not to have a Royal Commission Julie Bishop’s brother Douglas had his snout in the trough getting paid by the CBA to help harass and intimidate whistleblower Michael Fraser.
Douglas Bishop is a partner at the Australian law firm Clayton Utz where Julie Bishop also previously worked as managing partner for their Perth office. Mr Bishop would be on at least $1million as a partner and maybe a lot more given he does work for the CBA.
Douglas Bishop
I am not alleging corruption by Julie Bishop but I am not ruling it out either. She clearly has some very serious questions to answer and as a lawyer she would know that because there is clearly at the very least perceived bias which is a term lawyers are extremely familiar with.
Some of the questions Julie Bishop needs to answer are:
1. What involvement did Ms Bishop have in the government rejecting the bipartisan call by the Senate inquiry for a Royal Commission into the Commonwealth Bank?
2. Did Ms Bishop notify the Prime Minister of the conflict of interest given her brother Douglas was and is on the CBA pay roll? If not, why not? Did Ms Bishop notify other Ministers and MPs? If not, why not?
3. Given the obvious personal interest and conflict of interest did Ms Bishop stand aside from any debate and/or decision-making in relation to the possible CBA corruption Royal Commission? If not, why not?
4. Did Julie Bishop have any discussions with her brother Douglas in relation to the Royal Commission? Did he lobby her?
What makes Julie Bishop’s position even worse is that the government’s decision not to have a Royal Commission into corruption at the CBA is clearly a dodgy decision. The CBA lobbied the government hard not to have the Royal Commission and it worked.
The Commonwealth Bank have become cocky because they have managed to close down the recommended royal commission and minimize the payouts to the customers they have fraudulently ripped off. But this time they have bitten off more than they can chew and the online community will bite back hard.
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