Sydney construction boss allegedly bribed CFMEU for building site favours

A plasterer was granted bail after spending two months in custody accused of providing a corrupt benefit to Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union officials.

A construction boss allegedly bribed union officials with $5000 kickbacks in return for favours on building sites, a court has heard.

Plasterer Xian Feng Lin was granted bail on Monday after spending two months in custody accused of providing a corrupt benefit to Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) officials.

The NSW Supreme Court heard Lin, 46, allegedly provided $5000 payments on six occasions between November 2018 and September 2020. He is also charged with attempting to deal with the proceeds of crime.

Suppression orders prevent The Saturday Telegraph from revealing who the union officials were that allegedly received the payments.

However, the court heard the allegations involved officials from the CFMEU’s construction division being “subjected to the payment of bribes”.

AFP officers checking a vehicle in the carpark of the CFMEU offices during a raid in November 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

Justice Stephen Rothman said the allegation was serious because it “corrupts the system that operates in Australia for the fair resolution of wages and conditions”.

“They involved it seems a small number of union officials connected with CFMEU and in particular in relation to the construction division,” he said.

After reading the material tendered during Lin’s bail application, Justice Stephen Rothman said it would be “odd” if the other people mentioned in the case hadn’t been charged.

Lin’s wife offered up $270,000 in cash as part of a larger surety to secure her husband’s bail.

The crown prosecutor argued there was a risk Lin, director of Fairfield-based company Lin Betty Building Group, had access to funds the court wasn’t aware of.

AFP officers guarding the rear doors of the CFMEU offices during the raid. Picture: John Grainger

Lin’s barrister Phillip Boulten SC submitted that his client was not a flight risk as he had very strong ties to the community, including a newborn baby.

“He has very substantial assets, most of them heavily incumbent,” he told the court.

“He has little by way of alternative means to escape. He is unlikely to abandon all of his family and flee to China or anywhere else. He is an Australian citizen and all of that works in his favour.”

Lin was arrested in November following raids by the AFP’s Trade Union Task Force targeting top level union corruption.

The father-of-three is the first person to be charged for giving a corrupt benefit, an offence introduced under the Fair Work Act in 2017.

He was granted bail under strict conditions, including daily reporting to police and not leaving his house unless for work, medical or legal appointments.

The case is next due before Central Local Court in March.