Police raids in Queensland, Victoria sparked by alleged cross-border CFMEU graft

Police have launched raids in two states as part of a cross-border operation involving Queensland and Victorian detectives and allegations that $25,000 in NRL tickets and corporate hospitality was offered to secure CFMEU backing.

Beginning on Wednesday morning, a surprise operation led by Victoria’s Taskforce Hawk and including Queensland detectives linked to the state’s commission of inquiry into the CFMEU raided six locations across both states.

The raids followed allegations that Victorian labour hire firm Top Up had offered inducements in July to a senior Queensland CFMEU official to obtain the union’s backing to set up its operations in the state.

Four sources with knowledge of the latest allegations, but who are not authorised to talk publicly, said the donations were part of an entrenched pattern of multiple labour hire firms seeking to please the CFMEU to win union backing on major taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects.

According to information detailed in the search warrants, authorities allege that CFMEU officials are involved in the federal crime of seeking to corrupt a member of a registered trade union.

In a statement, Victoria Police said Taskforce Hawk detectives had also executed a number of warrants in Victoria as part of its investigation into alleged corrupting benefits offences.

The 47-year-old female director of a labour hire company was one of three people arrested as part of a series of early morning raids across Victoria.

Electronic devices and paperwork were seized after police raided two residential properties in the Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne’s north.

A 33-year-old man was charged with distributing an intimate image after explicit images of a female union member were allegedly stolen from the union’s Victorian headquarters.

A second man was charged with making a false document as part of a separate investigation into the reported security breach.

Both men were released on bail and are expected to appear in court later this year.

“Today’s warrants form part of a Taskforce Hawk investigation into allegations of people linked to a Victorian-based labour hire company providing corrupting benefits to current Queensland-based CFMEU officials to influence them in the performance of their duties,” Victoria Police said in a statement.

The co-operation between Queensland and Victorian police is a significant development and reveals attempts to uncover suspected crime and corruption in the building industry have become a borderless effort.

Victorian investigators executed warrants at two residential properties in Mount Eliza, a residential property in Pascoe Vale, and a commercial premises in Oakleigh South.

In Queensland, search warrants were executed at homes in Pimpama and Bahrs Scrub, and at the CFMEU’s Queensland office in Bowen Hills.

The investigation began in July, according to a statement from Queensland’s Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU and Misconduct in the Construction Industry.

Victorian police from Taskforce Hawk were investigating different allegations that a former bikie boss’s industrial relations company had sought to corrupt serving Victorian CFMEU officials.

While conducting that investigation, the taskforce uncovered Top Up’s plan to expand into Queensland. To do so, police suspect the firm was seeking to obtain an enterprise bargaining agreement approved by the CFMEU’s Queensland branch.

About 10 plain-clothes officers were seen at the premises in Bowen Hills, in Brisbane’s inner north, on Wednesday morning, with a security guard stationed inside.

Four unmarked police cars were parked outside the building, and the door was manually opened to let each officer inside.

A CFMEU spokesperson told this masthead: “The CFMEU has been made aware of a police investigation this morning and will co-operate fully.”

Four officers left the building about 8.50am, driving away in two vehicles. Another two officers left about 12.30pm, followed by three officers half an hour later.

The final three officers were carrying a folder and a briefcase, although the trio refused to comment to media gathered outside.

Taskforce Hawk’s investigation is focused on whether Top Up’s effort to win EBA backing and other union support may have involved an improper offer of NRL tickets and corporate hospitality totalling $25,000.

The search warrant served on the CFMEU during the raid of its Brisbane office identified Top Up Labour and a leading corporate hospitality provider as entities of interest.

The last significant corrupting benefits case involved the jailing of former NSW CFMEU official Darren Greenfield and son Michael.

The suspected offending that led to the Brisbane raid on Wednesday allegedly took place in Queensland and NSW.

On Wednesday, the multi-agency investigation sought information from senior CFMEU Queensland official Hoani Edwards.

Edwards is a person of interest in the inquiry, although this masthead is not suggesting he has engaged in any unlawful conduct.

Taskforce Hawk also continues to closely scrutinise the actions of Victoria’s CFMEU organisers, with more arrests expected.

In Victoria, police arrested Top Up Labour’s two owners and quizzed them over what the taskforce described in a statement as “allegations … of a Victorian-based labour hire company providing corrupting benefits to current Queensland-based CFMEU officials to influence them in the performance of their duties”.

Neither owner has been charged with corruption offences.

Regardless of whether the raids lead to charges in Queensland, they will almost certainly inform the coming Victorian royal commission and the ongoing Queensland commission of inquiry into the CFMEU.

The Queensland inquiry’s senior counsel assisting, Patrick Wheelahan KC, said the joint operation demonstrated the importance of the commission working closely with law enforcement agencies.

“Queensland Police detectives seconded to the commission have worked closely with Victoria Police investigators as part of this joint investigation,” he said.

“Today’s operation demonstrates that information provided to the commission can be investigated and, where appropriate, acted upon by police.”

The police activity comes a fortnight after the taskforce oversaw raids targeting officials in Victoria and former members of an outlaw bikie gang in connection to allegations of bribery and criminal activity.

The royal commission in Victoria was announced after organised crime infiltration of the CFMEU and the government’s Big Build program was uncovered by this masthead and 60 Minutes.