Controversial property developer John Woodman loses bid to block release of IBAC’s Operation Sandon report

John Woodman, the property developer at the centre of an explosive corruption hearing which grilled the Victorian premier, has failed in his bid to halt the release of IBAC’s report.

Millionaire property developer John Woodman. Photo: Aaron Francis

A bombshell IBAC report which embroiled the Premier will be handed down on Thursday, five years on, after Ferrari-driving developer John Woodman lost an eleventh hour bid to block its release.

Mr Woodman is at the centre of an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission probe into allegedly corrupt property deals involving Casey councillors in Melbourne’s southeast.

He had applied to delay the release of the 300-page report in the Victorian Court of Appeal on Monday.

But Justices Richard Niall, Cameron Macaulay and Jack Forrest refused Mr Woodman’s request for leave to appeal, freeing the agency to steam ahead with the release of the contentious report.

Woodman at the IBAC hearings. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The failed legal bid comes just three days before IBAC is expected to table its findings into the marathon inquiry to the Victorian parliament.

The five-year investigation, dubbed Operation Sandon, has been wrapped in controversy since Premier Daniel Andrews was grilled behind closed doors over his dealings with Mr Woodman.

The IBAC probe has also been linked by a Victorian Coroner to the death of key witness former Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon, who took her own life in January last year following her public examination.

In court on Monday, Mr Woodman’s lawyer Gerard Nash KC, argued that IBAC failed to make a “reasoned decision” as to whether unreasonable damage could have been caused by the public examination of Mr Woodman.

He said the developer had faced reputational “damage on a grand scale” after he was examined by IBAC for six days in public hearings in November 2019.

Mr Nash said the anti-corruption watchdog had failed to give his client an opportunity to challenge his evidence being given at a public hearing.

But the Justices said there was insufficient evidence to prove IBAC didn’t take into account unreasonable damage.

“It’s your burden to demonstrate that IBAC didn’t take into account unreasonable damage as opposed to just damage,” they said.

“Was there any evidence, Mr Nash, that IBAC misdirected itself?”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was interviewed in private for Operation Sandon. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Mr Nash said the only proof he could put forward was the reputational damage Mr Woodman had suffered.

“It is difficult, your honour, to establish that IBAC… was not exercising the balancing exercise but my submission once again is that this is a matter for trial,” he said.

“It cannot be said that IBAC did balance it.”

He conceded that the damage was largely already done.

Mr Woodman was ordered by the court to cover the Victorian government and IBAC’s legal costs for the appeal, which will likely see him cough up thousands.

The Herald Sun understands the developer could now turn to the High Court to further delay the report.

Mr Woodman, a prolific political donor to both the Labor Party and Liberal Party, is alleged to have made more than $1.2m in political donations and payments to Casey councillors in return for favourable planning decisions.

Mr Andrews, who was questioned about his association with Mr Woodman and whether he had been given the businessman’s phone number, was one of 26 witnesses grilled during hearings in 2019 and 2020.

Unlike the suburban Councillors and Mr Woodman, who were grilled in public, the Premier’s interview was conducted privately – a decision that was criticised by some witnesses, as well as the public.

Mr Woodman has previously called for a royal commission into the IBAC probe after his friend, Ms Stapledon, took her own life.

Friends of Ms Stapledon, a 58-year-old single mother of a disabled son, say she was living in fear for almost two years as she waited on the IBAC report, fearing that criminal proceedings would be brought against her.

While Ms Stapledon took her life three days after IBAC sent her its draft report into Operation Sandon, a Victorian coroner found she had not yet been shown the report.