The NSW Liberal / National Party coalition led by Premier Mike Baird have exposed how corrupt they are and how desperate they are to cover-up their corruption by in effect sacking the head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Commissioner Megan Latham.
Whatever made Premier Mike Baird do what he has done there must be a huge pot of gold in it for him because he has put the last nail in the coffin for his own political career. Maybe his actions have something to do with his secret meeting in February with Charif Kazal who in 2011 was found to be corrupt by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for bribing government official Andrew Kelly. The secret meeting seems to have been linked to the sale of the power network Transgrid for $10.26 billion to a consortium which is part owned by Middle Eastern government organisations that are notorious for paying bribes. (Click here to read more)
Recent revelations of the international Unaoil bribery scandal show links to Charif Kazal’s brothers and in effect possibly link Premier Mike Baird which I wrote about in April. (Click here to read the article) Charif Kazal is a well-known critic of ICAC, since they found him to be corrupt, and apparently raised ICAC’s future with Premier Baird at their secret meeting.
Megan Latham rattled to many cages
Megan Latham had upset too many corrupt people, including over ten sitting Liberal Party MP’s, Eddie Obeid and Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen etc, and they organised to make sure Latham was removed one way or another. The government introduced new legislation under the guise of improving ICAC which also included making Megan Latham reapply for her job even though she still had 2 years to run on her employment contract. Latham was clearly never going to get the job if she had replied as they could have easily introduced the same legislation without the need for her to reapply if they wanted to keep her. What they did is what is called a constructive dismissal which is unlawful and it would fun times if Latham sued the state government for constructive dismissal because I think she would win and they would likely settle before it ever hit court.
Some people will think it is a win for corruption in NSW but it isn’t. It is a desperate act by a desperate government who just over a week ago lost the Orange by-election with a record 34 per cent swing against the National Party.
As soon as Megan Latham was gone Mike Baird rewarded corrupt Liberal MP and former police minister Mike Gallacher with a $20,000 raise. Mr Gallacher was found to have acted corruptly by ICAC. The ICAC’s Operation Spicer report said “Mr Gallacher was one of a number of Liberal MPs who sought to evade election funding laws that banned donations from property developers” and “was not always a truthful witness“. (Click here to read more) In other words Mike Gallacher perjured himself like there is no tomorrow to cover-up his bribe taking which the Liberal /National Party are now rewarding.
Many suggest that “ICAC has ‘had its fangs removed’, legal heavyweights say, after commissioner resigns“. This is true but it also makes the public wake up to how corrupt the current government is and if the 34 per cent swing in the Orange by-election was to happen across the state at the next election than it will decimate the government. And that is highly likely to happen given the massive hole they have dug for themselves.
It must also be remembered that Megan Latham was not above corruption herself so her loss is not that great. Latham refused to investigate the $2.2 million the Mafia bribed NSW judges that was reported by Fairfax Media and the ABC. I know Latham and ICAC refused to investigate the Mafia bribe because I raised it with them several times including making 2 formal complaints. (Click here to read more)
Who wanted ICAC dead?
There are many who wanted ICAC dead so they would not be on the receiving end of current and future reports by ICAC. One report that is still to be written and published is Operation Credo (Australian Water Holdings) which involves corrupt former NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid and some of the wealthiest people in NSW. They have all rallied behind Margaret Cunneen and become her new best friends.
The battle to destroy ICAC has been going on for a long time and The Financial Review wrote in February 2016:
At the heart of the power struggle that is playing out behind the scenes in NSW politics is a mystery.
It’s a complex whodunnit. An extraordinary combination of forces and interests has put the future of the state’s corruption-fighting body at risk over a failed investigation – to say nothing of the potential damages bill the state may face at the end of this.
Sydney has been transfixed by the saga of a wronged – and very angry – prosecutor, who wants to destroy her tormentor, which is no less than the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
“They’re out of control, these people,” says deputy senior prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, SC.
“They’re a rogue agency. This whole thing, this has to be completely destroyed. It should be part of the police.”
Cunneen is a charming figure with a sure eye for a media quote, and her complaints strike a popular chord. But it is Cunneen’s backers and fellow travellers who stand to gain the most from the controversy.
It’s the fellow travellers, including former subjects of ICAC, who have been pulling the strings in a campaign against ICAC, piggybacking on Cunneen’s concerns.
She herself says it is a “disgrace” how they have been treated, notably Cascade Coal which ICAC found had corruptly obtained mining leases on land owned by former Labor power broker, Eddie Obeid. “As for Cascade,” she says, “I understand it was a bona fide purchaser for value without anything to do with Obeid.”
Her mission to close down ICAC may rewrite not only factional power within Premier Mike Baird’s government, but the control of mining leases worth more than $1 billion – the focus of earlier ICAC inquiries. This makes the fight to control the organisation the state’s biggest battle for power in years. (Click here to read more)
Margaret Cunneen and her boyfriend Eddie Obeid
Margaret Cunneen has strong links to many criminals and has been caught out lying to the media about those links. I published an article in April last year titled “Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen lies to hide friendship with killer Roger Rogerson etc.” which raises several of her criminal links. (Click here to read the article)
The below photo is one of the most scandalous photos ever taken and Margaret Cunneen should be sacked immediately. To give it some context and understanding how bad it is a juror was discharged (sacked) from a jury this year for smiling at an accused criminal because it gave the impression of bias or pre-judging the matter. (Click here to read more)
Margaret Cunneen not only had a secret meeting with Eddie Obeid behind the court while the trial was afoot but has also used the media to defend his corrupt coal deal as quoted above. For Cunneen to be making public statements defending Eddie Obeid it clearly raises the suspicions she is on his payroll. Then to have a secret meeting with him at the courthouse when the trial is in progress is a scandal. Did she pass on a message to her fellow prosecutor on behalf of Eddie Obeid to go easy on him? He was found guilty months ago and still isn’t in jail so you must wonder if someone’s palm has been greased.
Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen shaking hands with corrupt former MP Eddie Obeid outside the NSW Supreme Court in Darlinghurst in February 2016 while Mr Obeid was on trial for corruption.
The above photo is from an article published on the 24/11/16 titled “Margaret Cunneen’s prayers answered: ICAC commissioner Megan Latham resigns“.
Megan Latham could not have foreseen the devastation that would flow from the arrival of a package of material from the Australian Crime Commission in July 2014.
The package for Ms Latham, the commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, contained audio and transcripts of phone taps of deputy senior Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, SC, who is heard apparently praying for a miracle.
“Let’s hope that St Anthony does a miracle and takes all the alcohol out of the sample,” Ms Cunneen was heard telling a tow truck driver whose phone had been bugged.
The ACC was suggesting that Ms Cunneen had attempted to pervert the course of justice by advising Sophia Tilley, the then girlfriend of Ms Cunneen’s son Stephen Wyllie, to feign chest pains to avoid being breathalysed at the scene of an accident. (Click here to read the article)
While Sophia Tilley did ultimately test negative for alcohol, after avoiding the test for a number of hours by faking a chest pain, she was later arrested and charged in a separate matter for cocaine possession. It raises the question of whether of not she high on cocaine when she had the car crash?
The below picture is Margaret Cunneen with her friend and convicted killer Roger Rogerson.
Roger Rogerson pictured above with Cunneen was found guilty of murder in September 2016. (Click here to read more)
The fact that Margaret Cunneen can keep her job, associate with criminals and use her position to bring down ICAC shows just how deep the corruption in NSW goes. But their days are numbered as the corruption is being exposed everyday now with the internet truth train unstoppable and undermining ICAC won’t stop it.
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Categories: Mike Baird
A very murky affair. Baird will probably be tossed out next election, Orange is just the beginning. Though theyre pretty much the same voters as the Nats and would always side with the Liberals anyway. Looking at Brandis corruption of his responsibilities by intention to divert 1 billion tocWA Liberal mates, instead of the ATO (all of us )shows no ethics there either.
How many corrupt L&NP Members of parliament have the ICAC found in the past few years? They have to go, and should have gone at the last election with their federal counterparts. When will the average Aussie realize that the L&NP/LNP represent big business and not “the people” we have to try very hard to eliminate other right wing forces like On Nation, because they are potentially ‘more corruptible’ than their conservative cousins.
And what about corruption in the so called “Labor Party” which has just as many millionaires in its ranks as the Liberal Party. Why don’t you get off your high horse the 2 major parties are as bad as each other.
And what about corruption in the so called “Labor Party”
Didn’t you read the whole article because corrupt Labor member Obeid was mentioned.
This article was shinning the light of the Baird Gov. attack on ICAC. Labor has nothing to do with it and actually apposed the crooked Baird’s changes.
Nice try.
Liberal, Labor = Lawyer Party. Both major political parties have been beholden to the church of economic rationalism through which we have seen the destruction of our once great manufacturing industries. Industries that provided quality products and real jobs. Now we have a country run by lawyers. (LLB`S). These people go to the same schools, universities and have the same work experience. To survive a work experience in law one has to be devious, deceptive and be skilled at the manipulation of the truth. Those that are incompetent or are seen to be masters at this skill are promoted to the rank of politician. We have an over representation of lawyers in our parliaments, if we were to calculate the ratio based upon the number of lawyers in the parliament as against the general population since only 0.25% of the population are lawyers it should follow that only 0.25% of the parliament should be made up of them. This would mean we should only have one lawyer in the federal parliament, I can name seven without even trying. Turnbull, Shorten, Wong, Brandis, Pyne, Dreyfus, Abbott.
The Irony being that the Corrupt have now corrupted the very body that found them to be corrupt. The only hope is for the people the Community to Collaborate and Consume this corruption through Community Connectivity.
As an old bloke surviving on a pension, I do not fully grasp many things. What I do hate with a passion is the greed and corruption of people running my country. No-one has the right to sell off our resources or utilities. The higher up the tree people go, the more corrupt they become. When are we going to stand as a nation and rid the country of these leeches. Sooner or later, the people will clearly see the trash in high office, I do hope I live long enough to see it happen.
Remember the old saying, who guards the guard while the guard guards you.
Now the truth is, the guards themselves are corrupt, at the same timeusing pick-pocket tactics to steak from the people they are guarding.
Rodjac – let your outrage at the governments we are enduring at a Federal and NSW level in particular – make you live a long, long life, next elections will be very different. Baird has lost an awful lot of cred, and the Federals are just a joke, they did scrape in by one seat to spare, but they didnt deserve to even get that far. They now have lots of electorates with really tiny margins, which should be easy to knock off next time. One Nation as a threat is I believe a bit overrated (at Federal level anyway) and mostly seems to be ex Liberal voters anyway.
Please do not forget Victoria, we have a very corrupt government down here. I am a CFA volunteer fire fighter and the CFA themselves are so bad that they are to pay the union $2,000,000 because the union lost the legal battle. Even our own higher ups are dirty on the volunteers. Corruption is alive and well down here. Thanks for your wishes for a long life……Now I just need to live it.
Victoria is the place to be if you want to C corruption with a big C. The joint is run by 16,000 self serving lawyers who have positioned themselves strategically in the parliament, in the upper epsilons of the bureaucracy and through their monopolization of the Judicial system where they interpret and administer the laws of the land to endear themselves and their mates. The sooner this profession of vagabonds are required to conform to the basic tenants of Australian Consumer law. That is that they are not permitted to mislead and deceive, they are not allowed to engage in unconscionable conduct and they are not allowed to unfairly empower themselves in a contract the better off we will all be and then Australia can begin to recover from the plunder they have committed upon us innocent victims. .
Australia needs a massive overhaul of it’s political and bureaucratic systems, for example get rid of State Governments, reduce the number of “pollies”, change the voting system and make future responsible for their actions.
Yes we all know the name Obeid very, very well. Take that saga out of the equation, and you are left with an OVERWHELMING number of Liberal MPs who are, or have been, fiddling books and acting corruptly. Overwhelmingly Liberal.
Hi all, I think we should stop pushing for our “party” and instead, look at the problem. Sack without pension, immediately, ANY politician that is using the parliament to feather their own nests.
Rodjac – I think your terms are too broad – too many would qualify! and what about the corrupt and downright dodgy?
As I said, sack the lot of them. If someone else steps up, they know that if they try grubby tricks….they’re out on their ear, with no super, no car and chauffeur for life or any other perks, given to the few….
Rod.
the irony of all this is that megan latham and ICAC are also utterly corrupt-I have had personal dealings with both over many years. This whole saga is like infighting between different factions in Stalinist USSR or Hiltler’s Germany. Ex Judge Megan latham is one of the nastiest sociopaths in public office that I have ever dealt with and I’ve dealt with quite a few. Baird and Latham richly deserve each other