Did tens of thousands of dollars in donations to the Liberal Party help buy a visa for a suspected criminal? Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker investigate.
RESPECT runs deep among the Calabrians who man the stalls at Melbourne's Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable market. Even when police come calling, as in the early 1990s when market identities began turning up dead, deference is paid to those with influence.
In 1992, when homicide detectives asked fruit shop owner Antonio Madafferi what he thought of Liborio Benvenuto, the undisputed Mafia godfather of Melbourne, he replied: "A very good man. Very honest and he was respected everywhere."
Madafferi also impressed upon the interviewing detectives that he, too, was a man of influence. "I am a man who is very respected at the market," said Madafferi in his 1992 police statement.
Bruce Billson, Liberal MP, also thinks Madafferi is a decent chap, although his interaction with the Calabrian-born greengrocer is limited to fund-raising events. "I met him at functions. He seems a nice guy," Billson says.
Some, though, hold a different view of Madafferi.
In the early 1990s, Madafferi was twice named as a suspected hitman (allegations he denied and which were never corroborated) at the coronial inquests into the murders of two greengrocers. In 1998, a senior officer from Victoria Police's organised crime squad wrote in a report that Antonio Madafferi was "involved in a substantial number of crimes, including murder, gunshot wounding and arson". The report was aired at a 2000 court hearing involving Antonio's brother, Francesco, who was fighting a protracted battle with the immigration department and Federal Government over his impending deportation.
The police report, later dismissed by an Administrative Appeals Tribunal judge on the basis that it contained information from unnamed and possibly unreliable police informers, also alleged that both Antonio and Francesco belonged to a "crime family involved in blackmail, extortion and murder". The report also stated that: "If (Francesco) is allowed to remain in Australia, he will continue to carry out acts of violence on behalf of an organised criminal syndicate."
But despite losing his legal battles to remain in Australia, Francesco Madafferi would never be deported home to Italy. In November 2005, Amanda Vanstone used her ministerial discretion to overturn the previous immigration minister's decision and overrule her own department. Despite having stayed in Australia illegally and being suspected of Mafia involvement in both countries, Francesco was granted a visa in November 2005.
Two and a half years later, Francesco Madafferi was arrested by the Federal Police for his alleged involvement in a Mafia crime syndicate behind the world's largest importation of ecstasy.
In the past six months, that "bust" has been big news. Today, though, it is a different Federal Police investigation - one that has remained secret until now - that is in the spotlight. It also involved Calabrian men of influence, but has nothing to do with drugs. Rather, it is about tens of thousands of dollars in donations to the Liberal Party and the involvement of several politicians in efforts to secure Francesco Madafferi his Australian visa.
DROP CAP
JUST before Christmas in 2006, two Federal Police agents were contacted by a complainant with some potentially explosive information. The complainant told the federal agents that a Liberal Party insider had told them in 2004 about a plan involving donations to the Liberal Party in return for help getting Francesco Madafferi a visa.
The complainant offered to sign a witness statement (and later signed a Victorian statutory declaration, which has been obtained by The Age). The complainant also gave police a copy of a file saved onto their computer in early 2004, recording what the Liberal Party insider had confided. The file named two politicians - NSW Senator Marise Payne and Amanda Vanstone - and stated:
"In exchange for (alleged) criminal Frank Medaffery's (sic) release from Villawood detention centre and the granting of his application to stay in Australia, Liberal Party received donations from Medaffery's (sic) associates and business partners within the Italian community. (Mention Nick Scali as an example)."
The complainant's file went on to allege that some of the donations went to the individual fund-raising accounts of at least two federal Liberal MPs. The file also claimed that up to $100,000 was donated and that much of it could have been in small amounts below the $1500 disclosure threshold.
After assessing the complaint, the AFP contacted the complainant and explained that they would begin seeking more information. It is believed staff working for one or more federal Liberal MPs were interviewed by police.
The AFP complainant had no evidence that any actual donations had been received by the Liberal Party and it is not clear if the police ever went looking for any. And no Liberal politicians were interviewed.
The AFP is refusing to comment, but the investigation appears to have stalled. Whether it should have, though, is an open question. For donations did exist. And four Liberal politicians - Marise Payne, Bruce Billson, Russell Broadbent and an unnamed NSW state MP - all discussed the visa case with Madafferi's supporters or contacted Vanstone's office about the matter.
Payne's involvement in the Madafferi case began around late 2003 when she was approached at a charity function by three NSW businessmen, including the man named in the 2004 file note, furniture store owner Nick Scali.
The two other men - Pasquale Sergi and Antonio Labozzetta - were both businessmen of Calabrian heritage, strong Labor Party supporters and co-directors of a Sydney charity. Both also have some colourful connections. Two decades before Pasquale "Pat" Sergi was awarded an Order of Australia, he was named as a money launderer for drug boss Robert Trimbole in the 1979 Woodward royal commission.
A police report produced around a decade later named two of Antonio Labozzetta's relatives as suspected Mafia figures. Donation records show that Sergi donated to the NSW Liberal Party in March 2004, and that companies owned by Scali (a long-time donor) donated to the party in March 2003 and August 2004.
But Payne says her interaction with Scali, Sergi and Labozzetta had nothing to do with the promise of donations, either from them or any other associates of the Madafferi family.
The NSW senator says she was only concerned with helping out some constituents and that nothing adverse should be drawn from the fact that Francesco Madafferi lived in Victoria and already had two other Victorian Liberal MPs - Billson and Broadbent - discussing the case with his supporters, in particular wealthy Victorian vegetable grower and long-time Liberal supporter Frank Lamattina. He is believed to a relative of the Madafferi brothers and a close associate of Antonio.
In late 2003 and again in late 2004, Payne contacted Vanstone's office to raise her concerns that Francesco Madafferi's detention or deportation may have an adverse impact on his mental health, and that of his wife and children. Money for her party, she says, never entered her mind.
"I learned a long time ago - as this case shows for obvious reasons - that donations are matters to be handled by the party," she says.
Billson, Broadbent and Vanstone each echo the same line.
In September 2004, several months after the complainant had recorded on a computer file what the Liberal Party insider had privately told them about the donations-for-visa conspiracy, the Italian business community held a Liberal Party pre-election fund-raiser at the Melrose Function Centre near Tullamarine airport. Antonio Madafferi was there, as were many of his relatives and associates from the market and business community. Also there were four Liberal politicians: Payne, Vanstone, Billson and Broadbent.
It was a profitable night for the NSW branch of the Liberal Party, with records showing more than $40,000 raised from a mix of businessmen. Antonio Madafferi gave $15,000 via a company that owns his Noble Park fruit shop. One of his closest friends, fruiterer John Lattore, gave $5000. Another man who had married into the extended Madafferi family gave $3000.
Despite the presence at the function of three Liberal politicians who had been sought out to help on the Madafferi visa case, and the immigration minister who had the power to intervene in the case, none of the politicians recalls the visa issue being discussed at the September event.
However, just over a year later, in November 2005, Vanstone overturned the deportation imposed by her predecessor Philip Ruddock. Her decision marked the end of a nine-year fight to eject the suspected crime figure from the country.
It appears Madafferi's claims that he and his family were suffering from mental health problems had struck a chord with Vanstone, who listed her decision to grant his visa as "as a discretionary and humanitarian act to an individual with a genuine ongoing need".
Seven months later, in June 2006, when Pat Sergi held another of his well-known charity events in Sydney, disabled children were not the only beneficiaries. It appears that the NSW Liberal Party also fared well on the night with donation records showing at least $30,000 going into its coffers that same evening. Antonio Madafferi and John Lattore had again dug deep, as had companies owned by at least two of Madafferi's cousins. Another donor has a criminal conviction for bribery.
Donation records show that more than a dozen (mostly Melbourne-based) relatives and associates of the Madafferi family donated to the NSW branch of the Liberal Party between 2003 and mid-2006. The records only show donations over $1500, so it is possible smaller donations have been missed.
Some of the donors known to the Madafferis are regular political donors and have privately told The Age they had nothing to do with the visa case. Others, such as Antonio Madafferi, appear to have donated only during and then shortly after their lobbying for Francesco's visa. Antonio Madafferi, Pat Sergi, Nick Scali, Tony Labozzetta and several other donors did not return messages left by The Age at their offices or those of their lawyers to discuss their contributions.
Melbourne lawyer Joe Acquaro, who represents many in the Calabrian community, has previously denied that any donations had anything to do with the visa case and that Vanstone's decision was one based purely on merit.
Francesco Madafferi's freedom in Australia did not last long: he was arrested last August and is facing drug trafficking charges, reporting regularly to the police on bail.
The revelation of the AFP investigation, along with the donation records, raises a series of questions about whether someone involved in the Liberal Party or the Italian community (or both) tried to negotiate influence in the visa case in return for donations.
Payne and the Liberal party are so far refusing to disclose who handled the donations during the time in question. "Those in the responsible positions have turned up in other jobs," Payne says.
The coupling of donation records with the original AFP complaint also raises questions about how far the AFP went in its initial investigation. Labor Senator Steve Hutchins, who chairs a Senate oversight committee on the AFP, is calling on the Federal Police to restart their inquiry as well as investigate their own initial probe.
It is a position unlikely to be welcomed by some of Hutchins' colleagues, who fear that too much digging may lead to questions about those who support the Labor Party as well. In the 1970s and '80s, several inquiries exposed links between Calabrian organised-crime figures and Labor ministers, including the flamboyant Al Grassby. Indeed, it was Grassby's help in getting Mafia figures visas that was the focus of much of the scrutiny.
The links between Pat Sergi and the NSW Labor Party, including Ports Minister Joe Tripodi, have been well documented (Scali has also given donations to Tripodi). A recently released book by former NSW Police assistant commissioner Clive Small says plans for Sergi to run as a state Labor candidate in 1995 may have been scotched by a police probe that threatened to expose Sergi's past dealings with Calabrian crime figures.
But Hutchins says that, this time, it is the Liberals who have questions to answer.
"If anybody in the Labor Party has been involved in similar activities, they should be thrown out of the party and be hit with the full force of the law," he says.
"If these allegations end up leading to Labor, well, so be it. But at the moment it only seems like it is those morons in the Liberal Party who are dopey enough to take money from people linked to organised crimes figures."
Exactly how much money was given to the Liberal Party and for what purpose remains unclear. At the very least, the donations have created a perception that help was bought by, in at least some cases, some very questionable figures.
The influence of some at the Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market extends well beyond its produce stalls. The question is, "how far?"
Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker are with The Age's investigative unit.