Former Victoria Police chief calls on fraud squad to arrest Labor MPs over rorts-for-votes
A FORMER Victoria Police chief commissioner has called on detectives to arrest the Labor MPs refusing to co-operate with the investigation into the party’s rorts-for-votes scheme, saying it is an “absolute disgrace” that they were dodging police interviews. The Premier has again refused to comment on the matter today.
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EXCLUSIVE: A FORMER chief commissioner has called on Victoria Police to arrest the Labor MPs who are refusing to co-operate with the investigation into the party’s rorts-for-votes scheme.
Ex–top cop Kel Glare told the Herald Sun that it was an “absolute disgrace” that the MPs were dodging questions from detectives even after Premier Daniel Andrews had promised their full co-operation.
Less than a month before the state election, 11 current Labor MPs — including six ministers — are caught up in a probe over the rorting of almost $388,000 to part-pay political organisers during the 2014 campaign.
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“They’ve done everything possible to avoid scrutiny,” Mr Glare said.
“Try stealing from the supermarket, then taking the goods back. They should be arrested, and the allegations should be put to them,” he said.
For the second day Premier Daniel Andrews today refused to answer questions about whether Labor MPs were receiving preferential treatment in the Victoria Police investigation into Labor’s 2014 Red Shirts rorts.
“You would have to speak to Victoria Police about that issue,” he said.
“That is an ongoing matter and they are best placed to answer that.”
In July Mr Andrews vowed that when the investigation began MPs would co-operate.
The Herald Sun can reveal:
POLICE will send a brief of evidence to the Office of Public Prosecutions within days, seeking advice about whether to lay charges;
SOLICITOR for Public Prosecutions John Cain, the son of former Labor premier John Cain, has recused himself from the matter to avoid “a potential perception of conflict of interest”; and
LABOR figures say “confusion” has swept the party over the change in legal tactics in dealing with the probe.
“Everyone’s just in the trenches campaigning and hoping nothing happens,” one said on Wednesday night.
Despite Mr Glare’s call, the Herald Sun has been told there is “no chance” ministers will be arrested and questioned by police.
A Labor MP said it wasn’t clear what the party’s legal tactics were, because everyone was busy campaigning and “it’s not like everyone is in a room discussing this”.
Another said no MP had spoken to police, and that colleagues were not concerned about how the decision, which was based on legal advice from principal solicitor Rob Stary, would appear.
Government sources say raids on 17 former Labor staffers connected to the red-shirts saga had fractured the relationship between the Andrews Government and Victoria Police.
The raids had also caused divisions within senior police ranks, the sources said.
In July, the day after police had confirmed they would investigate, Mr Andrews said “everybody should co-operate and everybody will”.
Asked yesterday why his MPs were not co-operating, he said it would be “inappropriate” to comment while the investigation continued.
Premier @DanielAndrewsMP was today asked more than a dozen questions about the police investigation into Labor’s red shirts rort, and why MPs have refused to be interviewed.
— Monique Hore (@moniquehore) October 24, 2018
He said, repeatedly, that it would be inappropriate to comment #springst @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/dsPcmljuEj
The Premier remained tight-lipped on what had changed, but he did concede that “we are a long way on from that”.
“I stand by all the comments I make over time,” Mr Andrews said. “You can ask as many questions on this as you want to … but my answer won’t change.”
Another Labor figure said that when former treasurer John Lenders was recruiting MPs for the scheme early in 2014, the common view had been that the Labor veteran was doing so with the knowledge and encouragement of Mr Andrews, who was then Opposition leader.
“At the time, everyone that contributed would have done so believing Lenders was acting with Andrews’ approval,” one figure said.
Liberal MPs have held concerns for months that Mr Cain might be involved in offering police advice on whether to lay charges.
But the OPP has confirmed that Mr Cain, who is understood to have a friendship with at least one Labor minister, would not be involved in the case or be able to gain access to any files relating to it.
Shadow attorney-general John Pesutto accused the Labor MPs refusing to submit to interviews of “collusion to stop the truth coming out”, saying they had a duty to co-operate with police.
Mr Pesutto also asked why police had arrested former Labor campaign staff, but did “not appear to be taking the same step” in respect of the 21 current and former MPs who have been implicated in the rorts-for-votes scheme.
Mr Pesutto also opened the door to the prospect of ordering a new independent investigation into the matter, should the Coalition win next month’s state election.
Twitter: @tminear