Three arrested in probe into building industry, CFMEU chief Derek Christopher’s home raided
Three people have been arrested after police raided the freshly renovated home of a high-ranking CFMEU official in Keilor this morning, amid a probe into claims materials and labour were being exchanged for favouring contractors.
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Police have raided a construction union boss’s home, which neighbours say had been renovated quickly in the past two years.
The joint state-federal police probe of alleged fraud in the construction industry kicked up a gear today when a man and a woman were arrested at a Keilor Lodge property owned by senior CFMEU official Derek Christopher.
A 52-year-old woman was also arrested in Keilor. All three were later released pending further enquiries.
A neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said the big single-storey home was “gutted” about two years ago and remodelled very quickly.
“They whacked the place up in no time,” he told the Herald Sun. “There were 20 or more men here every day. They had carpenters and all sorts in here.”
AFP and Victoria Police fraud officers have spent more than a year investigating construction and building industry figures and the alleged provision of materials and labour in exchange for favouring contractors.
Six men and a woman were recently interviewed over allegations of receiving or soliciting a secret commission, and are expected to be charged on summons.
Three police officers left the home at 1pm with six large paper bags filled with evidence seized from the property.
A sedan was driven from the garage shortly after 1pm. Two police officers were inside the vehicle.
Mr Christopher has not been seen at the property yet.
Forensics teams have been coming and going from the home all day.
The home was renovated in the past two years, according to neighbours.
The front garden is a mixture of young shrubs and native kangaroo paws.
Computers, phones and documents were seized in the raids.
An investigator wearing orange gloves took a case into the property about 9am.
A man was taken from the property in the back of a blue police 4WD shortly after 10am.
A forensics team left the home at 10.30am.
A man was driven out of Mr Christopher’s Keilor Lodge property by an officer in a police 4WD shortly after 10am. More at @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/fYmlTyjxzy
— Tamsin Rose (@tamsinroses) August 9, 2019
Heavily armed AFP officers are manning the front of the property.
The union accused police of “excessive force” which had “unnecessarily traumatised the family, including a number of young children”.
“We completely fail to understand the excessive use of force displayed by multiple heavily armed Police wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons while raiding not only Derek’s home, but also other family members’ homes,” the statement read.
The CFMEU said Mr Christopher had “the right to the presumption of innocence”, and had offered to help police with their investigation “on numerous occasions” over the last year”.
Controversial union boss John Setka said: “Having experienced first-hand the trauma inflicted on my family through the use of excessive force, these actions are completely unwarranted.”
“This is something no family should ever experience.”
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It comes after a war between the militant union and the Labor Party erupted in June, with Opposition leader Anthony Albanese locking horns with controversial CFMEU boss John Setka.
Mr Setka was spared jail for harassing his wife with a barrage of “misogynist” and “nasty” texts and refused to step down as union boss in Victoria.
He still has the support of large sections of the state’s union movement and remains in his role despite Mr Albanese’s guarantee that Mr Setka “will be gone by July 5”.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien called on Premier Daniel Andrews to cut the Labor Party’s ties with the construction union.
“Daniel Andrews is too beholden to the CFMEU’s donations, their votes and their influence in the Labor Party,” he said.
“He’s not standing up for the interests of Victorians for a clean building industry and a union movement free of corruption.”
“This is becoming ridiculous. How many charges do CFMEU officials have to face before Daniel Andrews finally takes some action?”
Government minister Richard Wynne said it would be “quite inappropriate” for him to comment given the matter was subject to an ongoing police investigation.
Asked if it was time for the Labor Party to split with the CFMEU, he said: “That’s a matter for the Labor Party.”