A kickback scheme involving union officials and a crooked businessman seeking CFMEU backing not only corrupted the union but may have undermined competition in the building industry, according to the scathing findings of a senior judge.
The two sources, who requested confidentiality citing fears of reprisal, also said that despite the FWC ostensibly having the power to protect whistleblowers, it was unable to provide meaningful practical protection, in the way law enforcement agencies do, for anyone willing to give sworn evidence in the commission’s impending court action to force the union into administration.
In the letter, Furlong also wrote the FWC was “committed to working with law enforcement agencies and sharing information with other regulatory agencies where appropriate”. Between 2017 and 2021, two major state-federal taskforces uncovered detailed information exposing the alleged involvement of still serving union officials and delegates in kickback and corruption schemes.
Separately, a federal police taskforce operating in Sydney and Queensland covertly recorded conversations between still serving senior union official and a notorious underworld figure previously implicated in the bribery of a now retired union boss. The “independent” investigator, Geoffrey Watson, SC, hired on Tuesday by the CFMEU’s national office to probe allegations of corruption and criminality has even less power than the Fair Work Commission and ombudsman.