Pumicestone MP Rick Williams was allegedly involved in repeated dodgy dealings while operating a financial services firm, pursued a terrifying vendetta against his ex-wife’s new partner and was accused in a court document of dealing drugs when he was young. The accusations, which call into question his fitness to sit in Parliament and on the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee, were uncovered in a four-month investigation by The Courier-Mail.

Key allegations were sworn under oath in statutory declarations provided by witnesses.

The Government last night stood by the first-term MP, who has denied the key claims.

“Mr Williams denies that he has acted improperly,” Labor state secretary Evan Moorhead said.

However, Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg demanded Mr Williams stand down from the committee until the accusations had been resolved.

Key allegations have been made under oath in statutory declarations by witnesses, who were among more than 30 people interviewed by The Courier-Mail.

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But they are otherwise untested. However they appear to demonstrate there are reasonable grounds to justify further investigation and key witnesses have said they are willing to co-operate with police.

The investigation also relied on hundreds of documents, including court records, transcripts, a psychologist’s report for a murder case, business records and copies of complaints.

It was launched after The Courier-Mail earlier this year uncovered Mr Williams’ questionable behaviour in a series of business, family and neighbourhood disputes.

In the latest claims, former employee Bruce McLean, who was sacked by Mr Williams, alleges Mr Williams asked him to find someone to target his ex-wife’s boyfriend, Andrew Roberts.

Mr McLean was working for Mr Williams’ Ipswich financial planning business in 2001-02, after spending eight years as a prison officer, when he says Mr Williams approached him about a feud with Mr Roberts.

“Mr Williams personally asked me if I could get someone to get Andrew Roberts ‘done over’ and he would pay them for it,” Mr McLean said. “I said I didn’t know anyone.”

Mr McLean alleges Mr Williams later “bragged” he had also spoken to someone else about getting Mr Roberts “fixed”, but the person was “too dumb to get it together”.

At the time, Mr Williams had been in an escalating dispute with Mr Roberts, who had started a relationship with his ex-wife Carol after moving into a house neighbouring her Goodna property.

Mr McLean said he refused to help and was so concerned that he contacted Mr Roberts about the alleged approach and wrote a statement for him to provide to police.

Mr Williams has denied the allegation and denied harassing Mr Roberts.

The Courier-Mail tracked down Mr Roberts, who confirmed Mr McLean gave him a statement about the threat at the time.

Mr Roberts said he took the statement to the police, but was told that they could not act upon it as it had not been signed in front of a Justice of the Peace.

He said it was one of several police visits after “years of harassment” by Mr Williams during and after his two-and-a-half year relationship with Ms Williams.

In a chance encounter at a supermarket, Mr Roberts alleges that Mr Williams asked him to go fishing, then said he would use him as shark bait.

“It was just constant harassment from him, day in and day out,” Mr Roberts said.

“Rick wanted to get me because he didn’t like anybody being with his (ex) wife.

“I don’t know how he could ever get into Parliament after threatening ... me.”

Mr Williams denied he made the threat.

Contact our reporters: kelmeny.fraser@news.com.au | david.murray@news.com.au

Mr Roberts, who was once jailed for assault, said Mr Williams threatened him “face-to-face” several times.

“I ended up having to move away from the area just to keep my sanity, because I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Mr Roberts said.

The dispute escalated, with a fight over the ownership of a 4WD that Mr Roberts says he bought with Ms Williams.

Mr Roberts alleges Mr Williams’ sons attempted to take the four-wheel-drive and that he could also see Mr Williams out the front of his house. “They smashed a back window to get into the car,” he said.

In his statement to Mr Roberts at the time, Mr McLean claimed he had also been approached by Mr Williams to find someone he could pay to take a 4WD from Mr Roberts.

Mr McLean said he also heard Mr Williams discussing plans to take the vehicle.

He “personally heard Williams telling his ex-wife over the phone to get his sons to” take a 4WD from Andrew Roberts’ home, Mr McLean wrote at the time.

“He told them ... he would get them bail if they got arrested.”

Mr Williams denies involvement in the 4WD dispute and says it belonged to his ex-wife.

Police eventually recovered the vehicle from Mr Roberts.

Mr Roberts said the day after the 4WD incident, there was a police raid on his property acting on a false tip-off that he was cooking speed.

He said he reported to police that his motorbike was stolen the same night as the police raid.

“There were six police cars there (but) police didn’t find anything because there was nothing there,” he said.

The dispute became a police matter in November 2001 when a police officer questioned Mr Williams over a separate missing motorbike.

Contact our reporters: kelmeny.fraser@news.com.au | david.murray@news.com.au

It was not suggested Mr Williams stole the motorbike.

A summons was issued for Mr Williams to give evidence in the Ipswich Magistrates Court over the matter, according to Mr Williams’ own complaint about a police officer’s handling of the matter.

In the letter of complaint to police, Mr Williams said he later returned the bike to Goodna police station but argued it belonged to his family.

Mr McLean recalls being asked by Mr Williams to make a false statement about Mr Roberts, saying it “related to drugs” but he could not remember the exact request.

A housemate of Mr Roberts at the time said he had witnessed ongoing harassment by Mr Williams.

He said Mr Williams had come at him “out of nowhere” one night wielding a baseball bat and yelling abuse, but did not take a swing.