Companies on public projects exposed in CFMEU federal police probe

State and federal taxpayers are funding Victorian and Queensland contracts won by a building company with deep links to the Comancheros bikie gang, infamous Melbourne gangland figures on its payroll and which has emerged at the centre of a corruption scandal that has sparked recent federal police raids.

This masthead can also reveal federal agents are probing a second large building company with a presence in NSW, including on local government projects, as well as Victoria and Queensland, over suspect payments to gangland figures who have for years wielded influence with select figures in the CFMEU.

The West Gate Tunnel project in Melbourne.

The revelations that taxpayers are still funding projects involving gangland-linked companies highlight not only the entrenched nature of underworld infiltration of the construction sector but the ineffectiveness of actions by federal and state governments and agencies to combat the problem.

One such company, LTE Construction Group, has emerged as one of the building firms at the centre of recent federal police raids investigating suspect payments to gangland figures.

LTE has won lucrative subcontracts on publicly funded projects including the Victorian government’s West Gate Tunnel and Ballarat Government Hub, and several major Queensland-funded government sites including the Logan Hospital expansion and Gold Coast University Hospital sub-acute expansion.

LTE has also won work on the federally funded Centre for National Resilience quarantine facility in Brisbane.

An artist’s impression of the quarantine facility in Queensland.

It is owned and run by Nikola Maric, who has over the past five years formed deep ties and financial links to Melbourne’s Carlton Crew, an underworld grouping led by Mick Gatto.

Records sighted by this masthead reveal that Maric has placed two members of the Carlton Crew, including Gatto, on his company’s payroll as union and building industry fixers for its operations.

Maric’s company specialises in a range of civil construction works and also owns a large precast concrete yard producing concrete slabs for building projects.

According to gangland sources and banking records seen by this masthead, Maric has directed multiple payments to be made to Gatto and the second Carlton Crew member via front companies run by Melbourne accountant Charles Pellegrino.

Pellegrino’s home and office were the target of federal police raids earlier this month. There is no suggestion Pellegrino, Gatto or Maric are guilty of any offence, only that federal police are investigating why construction firms are paying large sums via suspected front companies controlled by Pellegrino. No charges have been laid, but the offences under investigation include money laundering, tax fraud and seeking to improperly influence a union official in the conduct of their work.

Gangland and building industry sources who had dealings with Pellegrino – and who requested confidentiality fearing repercussions – said Carlton Crew fixers claimed to deliver the support of the CFMEU to LTE and other Maric-linked firms as well as solving other building industry disputes. CFMEU support is typically a prerequisite for building companies working on big government sites.

Gatto, a former boxer who describes himself as a mediator in the construction industry, has long been described as an underworld figure by police and other authorities and was named a standover man in a 2002 royal commission.

As Maric has built a multimillion dollar building company empire along Australia’s east coast, he has not only developed close links to Gatto’s Carlton Crew but has also separately built ties to Comancheros through men with deep involvement in the club.

Bemir Saracevic was featured in part of an ABC article tabled in the federal parliament.

One of Maric’s businesses was formerly managed by Comanchero associate Krstomir ‘KB’ Bjelogrlic, whose business partner is the bikie gang’s national boss, Bemir Saracevic.

Bjelogrlic and Saracevic were named in an ABC article tabled in federal parliament last year detailing allegations they had heavied CFMEU officials in Queensland.

Last year the federal government said it would refer to authorities Bjelogrlic’s alleged role threatening the CFMEU. He has previously denied being a bikie.

Maric is also an associate of former Comanchero treasurer Mark Ahern. Ahern was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017 over the torching of a Kittens nightclub, and was previously jailed for firing eight shots into the home of then Victorian state MP Lorraine Wreford.

Mark Ahern leaving the Magistrate’s Court in 2012.Credit: Penny Stephens

As he has cultivated gangland connections, Maric has become the go-to for sorting out disputes with the CFMEU along Australia’s east coast, say industry insiders.

Maric has been repeatedly sighted hosting meetings with Gatto and other gangland figures at the Roasting Warehouse cafe in North Melbourne. At those meetings Maric has helped negotiate with CFMEU and bikie-linked figures, securing outcomes from firms seeking union support or industrial peace.

One line of inquiry being pursued by police is whether the payments to Pellegrino’s front companies are linked to these meetings.

In an interview, Maric denied making payments to Pellegrino or any member of the Carlton Crew including Gatto. Maric also said he had no links to any bikies.

Is this one of my mates being a smart arse?

Nick Maric

When pressed on his associations and why financial records appeared to link LTE to payments to the Carlton Crew via Pellegrino’s firms, Maric then attempted to deny he owned LTE or that he was in fact Nick Maric.

He then backflipped and confirmed his role running the firm while still denying any underworld associations.

“You’ve got the wrong number,” Maric said during the call in which he appeared to seek to distance himself from his own company, LTE.

When pressed over his ownership of LTE, which owns a precast concreting business along with its civil works business, Maric finally conceded: “I own a precast yard, but I don’t have any Comancheros there.”

Asked again if he owned LTE, he confirmed he was “the manager of the company”.

Gatto declined to answer questions.

This masthead can also reveal that Rangedale – a large civil works company operating on Victorian government projects and in NSW – also made payments to the Pellegrino-linked firms which are now being probed.

Rangedale operates across Victoria’s Big Build and its clients involve multiple government agencies. Its Victorian projects include the early works on the North East Link, and it is also working on the Airport Rail Link Project and Suburban Rail Loop.

Civil works company Rangedale, which worked on Victoria’s North East Link, sent money to firms linked to Melbourne accountant Charles Pellegrino, whose home and office was raided by federal police.Credit: Jason South

In NSW, the group was listed as a supplier to the state’s transport department and a preferred contractor for local governments, though its status is listed as “Terminated from Contract”.

The group also has offices in Queensland and South Australia. It specialises in works like drainage, pipeline repairs, sewer connections and other civil cleaning works on major projects.

Rangedale previously had large business interests in Russia, with a thriving Moscow office that helped Australian companies get their products into the growing Russia market.

Rangedale provided services to companies looking to break into a range of industries in the ex-Soviet state, from the steel sector to oil refiners to brewers. It was perhaps best known as being a large exporter of cattle to Russia on behalf of Australia’s beef producers.

In recent years, the group has focused on its civil construction works as governments ramped up infrastructure spending. Rangedale is also eyeing government work around the Olympics.

“With the 2032 Brisbane Olympics on the horizon, the Queensland government is talking about doing some large-scale projects there. Being able to get our foot in the door now and establish the company’s name will be a fantastic opportunity,” the company said in a press release in 2022.

Like LTE, Rangedale has had an at times fractious relationship with the CFMEU. Rangedale has not responded to inquiries from this masthead over the past week.

The revelations provide fresh evidence of taxpayers along Australia’s east coast funding firms backed by gangland figures, indirectly making payments to the underworld.

Geoffrey Watson, SC, the corruption-busting barrister appointed by the CFMEU administrator to investigate wrongdoing, this week warned the Big Build has become a “place of resort” for bikies and their associates.

On Tuesday, 500 Victorian delegates of the CFMEU voted in favour of a resolution aimed at driving criminal elements out of the union and the broader construction sector.

Earlier this week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pressed for the return of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and new national laws for racketeering to drive organised crime out of the sector.

Federal Workplace Minister Murray Watt also referred several allegations to federal police on Monday, including the revelation that building companies were paying off outlaw motorcycle gangs via “dummy” companies.

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