Deadline: Restless Kooyong Tennis Club members want cops called in over missing $2.5m

Some heavy-hitters at Kooyong Tennis Club are questioning why external auditors — rather than cops — have been called in to investigate the missing $2.5m.

Some Kooyong heavy-hitters have questioned whether the disappearance of such a massive sum needs a police inquiry. Picture: Getty

Mark Buttler and Andrew Rule with the latest crime buzz.

Send in the fuzz

Deadline can reveal growing murmurings within the Kooyong Tennis Club about bringing police in over its missing $2.5m.

Though external auditors have been brought in, we’re told there is some clamour among dissenters to call in the cops.

Some heavy-hitters have questioned whether the disappearance of such a massive sum needs an inquiry by investigators with accompanying police powers.

Kooyong’s powers-that-be have assured members that the money was not misappropriated but there are some elements who favour the law having a look to be on the safe side.

“We want to know what’s happened. That’s our f.--king money,” one of that group said.

The club has called in external auditors to look over their books. Picture: Getty

These have been troubled times at Kooyong, which for decades hosted the Australian Open.

There has been scuttlebutt that the great Andy Murray was there recently but abruptly left the players’ change rooms because of a lingering odour.

“The men’s locker room smells like an abattoir today,” one member said recently.

One club insider said a woodworm infestation had been uncovered in the sauna.

There was also the issue of a major fire at the club in December, believed to have been caused by a faulty airconditioner.

Not out of puff

Let’s hope authorities are keeping a close eye on one of our corrections system’s newest guests.

He is the 25-year-old Epping man who was charged this week with ordering multiple fires at smoke shops and other businesses as part of Melbourne’s tobacco wars, allegedly under the direction of exiled gangland wildman Kazem Hamad.

Deadline isn’t in the business of assuming guilt but, regrettably, not everyone adheres to such high-minded principles.

It’s clear the fires of the past year have upset the apple cart of some very significant gangland players, men who have reach in all manner of places.

The 30 or so firebombings carried out since March of last year have cost them a lot of money and given them sleepless nights as police have zeroed in on what was previously a lucrative under-the-radar racket.

CCTV of the moment the Docklands restaurant owned by Fadi Haddara went up in flames. Picture: Victoria Police

There also appears to have also been some added personal spice to what’s been going on.

A fire in December at Melrose Receptions in Tullamarine was, allegedly, a case in point, Lunar taskforce boss detective Inspector Graham Banks indicated on Tuesday.

“This (Melrose) was not in any way, shape or form in the ongoing conflict,” he said.

“This was targeted, really, only to cause annoyance to an opposing group who had booked the venue.”

Anyway, the arrest is another indication that the Lunar taskforce appears to be making some significant strides in one of the more challenging tasks facing Victoria Police.

Earlier in January, they arrested five people over a series of blazes at tobacco shops and other businesses, mostly in the western suburbs.

Among them were patched members of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang.

The December arrest of crime figure Fadi Haddara was also the result of a Lunar investigation.

The 49-year-old was later charged with firearms offences and affray.

Where are they now file

A notable name surfaced in the Herald Sun’s coverage of anti-Australia Day protests in the CBD.

One of our historically minded spies pointed out the quoting of a 70-year-old fellow called Tim Anderson who’d gone to the trouble of travelling from Sydney for the rally.

He wondered whether this could have been the Tim Anderson who was charged and acquitted on appeal over the infamous Hilton Hotel bombing of 1978 in Sydney.

A bomb exploded in a rubbish bin outside the George St hotel, which was hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, in what is regarded as Australia’s first terrorist attack.

It killed two garbage collectors and a police officer on duty at the hotel died later.

Anderson went on to pursue a career in academia, authoring books on a range of topics.

He remains an enthusiastic political activist.

A salty Stu

There was a familiar face among the Australian cricket camp as they winced their way through Sunday’s tension-packed finish.

Former Victoria Police officer Stuart Bailey was front and centre in many of the TV shots in the gripping final hours before the West Indies mighty win.

Bailey is nowadays a security manager at Cricket Australia but he has a diverse background.

He was once a homicide squad detective and worked in plenty of other areas of the force during a long career.

Footy fans might also recognise Bailey.

He spent plenty of years in the AFL where he served as a runner for St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs.

Caught on the hop

Trouble out in the suburbs for a man found in a stationary car on a roadside.

It appears the officers interrupted some kind of interlude with a kangaroo.