Troy Thompson accuses councillors of accepting gifts from CEO candidate; legal officer says untrue

Townsville City Council’s chief legal officer has dismissed Mayor Troy Thompson’s latest spray against his council, in which he sensationally accused councillors of accepting gifts from a CEO candidate.

Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson during this week’s council meeting. Picture: Evan Morgan

Townsville City Council’s chief legal officer has dismissed Mayor Troy Thompson’s latest spray against his council, in which he sensationally accused councillors of accepting gifts from a CEO candidate.

Mr Thompson held a snap press conference in the council forecourt Friday morning to outline a number of serious allegations against councillors.

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Also publishing a video and ‘media release’ to his Facebook page, Mr Thompson accused “no fewer than three councillors” of taking gifts from a candidate.

“These councillors have failed to declare the gifts they received and the personal friendships they have with the candidate, with one councillor recently going on a sailing trip with the candidate just days prior to using the councillors vote to select the candidate into the short listed candidates,” Mr Thompson posted on his Facebook page.

“The councillors involved have used their vote to select this candidate into the shortlist of three candidates for the permanent CEO position,” Mr Thompson claimed. “This is a lucrative position worth over half a million dollars a year.”

Less than an hour after the mayor’s public press conference, council’s chief legal officer David Sewell urged media not to republish the allegations, noting the mayor is at risk of defamation action.

“Our preliminary investigation is to the effect that the allegations in respect of any candidates are not true,” Mr Sewell said.

Townsville City Council. Picture: Evan Morgan

The Bulletin has republished a portion of the mayor’s claims for the sole purpose of informing the public that council’s legal department have dismissed them.

A Townsville City Council spokesperson further confirmed Friday afternoon that “a preliminary investigation carried out by Council’s internal investigators has found no evidence to support the mayor’s claim”.

Mr Thompson said he has referred the allegations to the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission for “an urgent investigation”.

The mayor is currently the subject of an ongoing CCC investigation relating to his misrepresentations over his university and army qualifications, as well as multiple donations to his election campaign from developers.

Originally published as Troy Thompson accuses councillors of accepting gifts from CEO candidate; legal officer says untrue