CFMMEU leaders John Setka and Shaun Reardon launch failed blackmail compensation action
John Setka and Shaun Reardon want cash compensation for their false imprisonment and “malicious prosecution” over blackmail charges that embarrassingly collapsed.
Law & Order
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CFMMEU heavyweights John Setka and Shaun Reardon want cash compensation for their false imprisonment and “malicious prosecution” over blackmail charges that embarrassingly collapsed.
Union leader John Setka and his deputy Shaun Reardon have lodged Supreme Court action and want Boral executives Paul Dalton and Peter Head to pay for their pain.
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The union officials were charged in 2015 on the back of statements made by the Boral chiefs to the royal commission into trade unions.
The stoush was over allegations the CFMMEU threatened to blockade Boral trucks at Victorian work sites if the company did not stop supplying concrete to Grocon as the union was warring with the builder over OH&S issues.
But once the case got to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court to determine if Setka and Reardon should face trial and after days of farcical evidence prosecutors advised the magistrate: “after consideration of the facts, we have been advised to withdraw”.
In their legal claim lodge this week, Setka states he was falsely imprisoned for two hours and 25 minutes while Reardon was detained for three hours and 23 minutes after being arrested in 2015.
The writ states Mr Dalton and Mr Head were “active in promoting” the arrests and set the criminal proceedings in motion.
“(They) provided false information to the police and withheld relevant information from the police,” the court documents states.
The document accused Mr Dalton and Mr Head of giving investigators information that “virtually compelled the police to bring charges against Setka and Reardon”.
Setka and Reardon claimed their prosecution started “without reasonable or probable cause”.
“Dalton and Head in initiating and maintaining the criminal proceedings acted maliciously and were actuated by sole or dominant purpose other that the proper invocation of the criminal law,” the write said.
The pair are seeking unspecified damages, interests and costs.
Once the case was withdrawn earlier this year, Magistrate Charles Rozencwajg said: “I think it’s a very sensible decision”.
Boral alleged the pair made threats at during an hour-long meeting at a North Melbourne cafe — which Setka and Reardon always denied.
During the preliminary court hearing Mr Dalton admitted to destroying original notes taken after a meeting with the men that ultimately led to the charge and Mr Head described the cafe meeting as “calm” and “pleasant” with no “overt aggression”.