Peter Wicks is bewildered as why police are taking so long to investigate Kathy Jackson — and why only Michael Williamson appears to be in their sights.
Given the praise publicly heaped on Kathy Jackson by Tony Abbott, and given Michael Lawler was appointed by the same man, it has raised grave doubts in many minds.
You may recall when Craig Thomson was being investigated, a lot of eyebrows were raised when Shadow Attorney General George Brandis contacted several influential people to try and hurry things along. Given there is a Coalition Government in Victoria, it makes one wonder whether there is some sort of “go slow” is in progress.
Now that there are Secretary’s in the Victorian HSU Branches that are not a part of the Jackson faction, the full extent of the damage is starting to become apparent. As factional bully Bolano faces questions over breaches of his court intervention order put in place to protect Diana Asmar, and those now in charge attempt to rebuild the union for the members, the factional leader that presided over all of this carnage packs her bags and checks her passport.
As for the case against Williamson, there are still more questions to be answered. For a start, I’m sure that Williamson was not working alone. And if he was receiving kickbacks – or secret commissions, as the statements from police describe – where did these "commissions" come from?
Back on 24th February 2012 the police raided the property of John and Carron Gilleland, owners of Communigraphix Pty Ltd — supplier of printing services to the HSU. Documents and equipment were seized, but 11 months later nothing has come from this aside from this statement made to The Australian:
Police have indicated to The Australian that they do not expect to bring charges against Mr Gilleland or his wife Carron.
Suspicions regarding Communigraphix were raised, as it was deemed by some to be suspicious that the company invoiced approximately $680,000 per annum, which is apparently a large amount for the publishing and distribution of 11 glossy colour 48 page magazines to tens of thousands of members. As it turns out, the Temby Report stated that the approximately $680,000 was in fact Communigraphix total income per annum, not just the magazine.
So what of other suppliers?
The Temby report mentions Communigraphix as a high cost supplier, but − amongst others − he mentions a company called Access Focus. According to the Temby Report, Access Focus received a little over $4.5m ex GST from 3 October 2007 to 30 September 2011. That is over $1.1 million a year, and almost double the income of Communigraphix according to Temby.
When asked about providing secret commissions, Fairfax’s Kate McClymontwas told by the owner, Alf Downing:
''I don't give backhanders because I don't make enough money.”
This apparently short of money supplier of "union paraphenalia", is also the owner of the Viwa Island Resort in Fiji, which he bought a few years ago:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="496"] Alf Downing: doing it tough.[/caption]
One would hope that Access Focus is being closely looked into.
Another interesting person, who is still a current supplier of IT services to the Union, is a man by the name of Bruce Daniels. Bruce’s services were retained by the administrator and I am curious as to why.
United Edge were an IT company that was paid vast amounts of money to provide services to the HSU. The directors of United Edge, according to the Temby Report, were Michael Williamson, Brad Bird, and Bruce Daniels.
Michael Williamson, as we know, is facing charges regarding his financial practices whilst running the HSU, as well as charges for the recruiting and attempts to recruit others to hinder the police investigation. One of those named as allegedly being recruited by Williamson to “carry out a criminal activity” to hinder a police investigation was Brad Bird. This criminal activity was allegedly to do with the destruction of evidence, such as electronic files from the network managed by United Edge. Based on the salaries of the directors of United Edge, it is easy to come to the conclusion that Bruce Daniels held a position of far greater power and control than Bird given his salary dwarfed Birds — yet he still receives payment from the Union for services. This seems a trifle odd, to say the least.
Given the amount of information that has circulated, and the amount of resources dedicated to this case, I am bewildered as to why it would appear that Williamson seems to be the only one in the sights of police in NSW.
I am even more bewildered as to why it took so long to launch an investigation into Kathy Jackson in Victoria , and why it is taking so long to lay charges.
One more thing, if Michael Williamson has had his passport revoked, could I be so bold as to suggest the same for Kathy Jackson?
Just a suggestion...
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