IBAC probe hears Transclean boss withdrew cash before meeting V/Line chief
A Metro Trains manager has told IBAC he was given $150k by Transclean to help keep it winning work, while the head of the cleaning company allegedly withdrew thousands of dollars in cash an hour before meeting V/Line chief James Pinder.
Victoria
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A manager at Metro Trains has told the state’s corruption watchdog he received $150,000 in cash from a cleaning company as part of an alleged effort to help grow the business and keep it winning work.
Claims of a lucrative gambling syndicate, put forward by V/Line chief executive James Pinder to explain large sums of cash, have also been contradicted.
An emotional Peter Bollas, Metro’s suspended head of fleet operational support, was on Wednesday quizzed by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission as it probed allegations of serious misconduct.
The investigation centres around whether Mr Bollas, Mr Pinder and Transclean managing director George Haritos used their positions in the public transport system to benefit financially.
The commission had previously heard that Mr Pinder and Mr Bollas would regularly receive thousands of dollars in cash from Mr Haritos, which was described by the V/Line boss as payments from a gambing syndicate.
But when asked about this, Mr Bollas said he had never been a member of any such syndicate but had received about $150,000 over the past three to four years.
“To assist and to grow the (Transclean) business,” he said.
Mr Bollas said payments often came in figures of $8000 or $10,000 and would sometimes be given to him through Mr Pinder.
“The arrangement was every month,” he said.
The commission heard from Mr Bollas that the pair had discussed asking Mr Haritos for an extra $50,000 on top of this because of new work secured during the coronavirus pandemic.
They had also spoken about the idea of receiving an apartment as part of the arrangement, but this was never acted upon.
When asked what he was doing for Transclean, Mr Bollas said he had promoted the business and helped him meet new cleaning requirements.
He agreed that Mr Haritos would have viewed him as someone who helped ensure Transclean had a good reputation, which would then keep working coming in the company’s direction.
Earlier the IBAC probe heard Mr Haritos withdrew $8000 from his bank an hour before meeting Mr Pinder at the rail operator’s head office in July.
Victoria’s corruption watchdog was also shown evidence of multiple encounters throughout 2020 in which the Transclean managing director, withdrew thousands of dollars in cash in the lead-up to seeing Mr Pinder.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission is probing whether serious misconduct was involved in lucrative contracts awarded to Transclean both in 2018 and during the start of the pandemic.
Earlier hearings have heard Mr Pinder received $320,000 towards a home deposit just months after the company secured a major contract with V/Line.
It has also heard he regularly received bundles of cash from Mr Haritos, with secret phone conversations aired between the cleaning company boss, Mr Pinder and Metro manager Peter Bollas.
During these recordings, discussions of alleged bribes were mentioned, along with the potential to petition for further cash payments.
On Wednesday, the commission was shown covert videos and photos of meetings between Mr Pinder and Mr Haritos between March and July 2020
Flow charts showed how in the days and hours before each meeting, Mr Haritos would extract large sums of cash.
On July 22, the head of the cleaning company withdrew $8000 at 9.32am and met with Mr Pinder at V/Line’s head office in Melbourne’s CBD just 40 minutes later.
Earlier in the year, the pair had separate meetings at Moose Bar and Cafe in South Yarra and Rouben’s Specialty Coffee in Toorak.
In both instances, they left the venues after a brief discussion and regrouped near their cars before parting ways.
Mr Pinder has maintained any cash payments he received from the man were part of a gambling syndicate, but on Wednesday told the commission it was possible there could be a crossover with Transclean’s funds.
“It was always cloudy with George where money was concerned,” he said.
The commission was also shown a phone conversation in which Mr Bollas, of Metro Trains, flags a serious safety breach by a member of Transclean’s staff in which they were at risk of being exposed to deadly high voltages.
He talks to Mr Pinder about the potential to make the issue “disappear”.
But when asked why he didn’t act on these concerns, Mr Pinder said he was listening to a friend blowing off steam.
Counsel assisting the commission, Paul Lawrie said he found that hard to believe.
“I’m afraid that stretches credulity,” he said.
“This is Mr Bollas telling you about a very, very serious safety breach on February 1 at the Cheltenham railway station involving a Metro train and the potential electrocution of a worker.
“Are you saying you just treated this as a mate blowing off steam? Is that honestly your answer?
“He told you about how he was going to try and suppress this incident by attacking, quite falsely, one of the witnesses.
“He told you of his plan to cover up this incident, didn’t he?”
A text message conversation from May 2017 was also shown in which Mr Bollas asks Mr Pinder about the possibility of securing a job at V/Line.
“For you, brother, everything is possible always,” Mr Pinder wrote at the time.
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