IBAC secret investigation into Labor, fireys union nears end

After almost four years, a top secret anti-corruption investigation into dealings between the Andrews Government and the UFU is nearing completion

Premier Daniel Andrews has declined to comment on whether he was a subject of the investigation. Picture: Ian Currie.

A marathon anti-corruption investigation into dealings between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union is nearing a potentially dramatic climax.

The Australian can reveal the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission is putting the finishing touches to the top-secret investigation, codenamed Operation Richmond.

IBAC has this week written to multiple witnesses called before the investigation informing them its probe is almost complete and it was preparing a draft report into the investigation, which opened in mid-2018.

The preparation of a draft report suggests the anti-corruption agency will also release a public report into the four-year probe.

Operation Richmond has been among the most secretive operations in IBAC history and has involved scores of witnesses called before secret hearings.

The investigation’s original focus was into dealings between the UFU, its state secretary, Peter Marshall, and the Labor Party, but its terms are believed to have widened over the course of the probe. “We gave them (IBAC) everything on a platter,” one witness told The Australian.

Among issues believed central to the probe are events surrounding the merging of the Country Fire Authority and Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 2016, and industrial agreements, allowances and pay claims between the government and the union.

Premier Daniel Andrews has previously declined to comment on whether he was a subject of the investigation. A government spokesperson said: “Any questions about IBAC activities should be directed to the agency.”

IBAC declined to comment on Tuesday on the progress of Operation Richmond.

“As a matter of practice, IBAC does not comment on whether it has a complaint or investigation before it,” a spokesperson said.

Mr Marshall did not respond to a request for comment.

The Australian believes that among issues witnesses raised with IBAC was an alleged hacking of emails from MFB chiefs. It’s also believed senior Labor ministers have emerged as figures of interest to the anti-corruption investigation as it probed dealings between the government and UFU.

IBAC’s letters to Operation Richmond witnesses also revealed it had been forced to withdraw confidentiality notices issued against witnesses in ­Operation Richmond and other investigations because of a legal hitch.

Witnesses were told a Court of Appeal ruling in a separate investigation had invalidated the secrecy notices on the basis they didn’t sufficiently specify “restricted matter or restricted matters”.

Witnesses were told that because Operation Richmond was nearing completion, valid secrecy notices would not be slapped on them, but it’s believed IBAC has reissued new gag orders on witnesses in other investigations.

IBAC CEO Marlo Baragwanath said the agency’s confidentiality notices had never been subject of a challenge. “However, we are not above scrutiny and IBAC accepts the ­decision of the Court of Appeal,” she said.