Call for Victoria’s corruption watchdog to be put on a tight leash
IBAC target John Woodman says Daniel Andrews has never spoken to him about a controversial land deal.
John Woodman, the main target of a marathon IBAC investigation, has called for a royal commission into Victoria’s anti-corruption agency and said while he had known Daniel Andrews “since he had pimples on his face”, the Premier had never spoken to him about a controversial land deal.
Breaking a three-year public silence over Operation Sandon, the millionaire businessman has launched a broad-based counter-attack on the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, which he blames for the suicide of his friend and former Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon.
Mr Woodman has claimed IBAC “brutality” drove Stapledon to take her life, called for IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich to stand aside, and demanded the Andrews government order a royal commission into IBAC over its conduct in Operation Sandon.
“All of this intellectual dishonesty and criminally negligent misconduct has caused many persons uncalled-for humiliation and, in the case of Amanda Stapledon her life,” Mr Woodman told The Australian.
“We believe the evidence will reveal that Amanda, at all times, represented her constituents with honour and in their best interests and at no stage conducted criminal activities and/or improperly used her position as a councillor. Yet the draft report was so inappropriately adverse with lie after lie that Amanda took her own life three days later.”
Operation Sandon started in 2019 as a probe into allegedly corrupt land deals involving Casey councillors in Melbourne’s sprawling southeastern suburbs and Mr Woodman.
It has grown to engulf Labor MPs, ministers and Mr Andrews, who, as revealed by The Australian in May, was secretly questioned by IBAC over his association with Mr Woodman in a private hearing.
Mr Woodman, 69, insists Mr Andrews never telephoned him about C219, the potentially valuable chunk of industrial land in Casey he was working to have rezoned for residential development, and which is at the heart of the IBAC investigation.
“I’m happy to go on the record and say I’ve known Daniel since he had pimples on his face, met him at fundraisers years ago,” he said.
“But he never rang me, never texted me. I have never spoken to him about C219.”
Mr Woodman, whom IBAC has alleged funnelled more than $1m to various Casey councillors, including former mayor Sam Aziz, in return for favourable planning decisions, said only a royal commission could uncover the truth about IBAC’s conduct in Operation Sandon. “The IBAC commissioner should stand down, and a royal commission ordered to get to the bottom of why a woman is dead and so many lives have been destroyed in the pursuit of (Operation) Sandon,” he said.
Mr Woodman has released a letter to The Australian he sent to Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes in June in which he calls on the government to order a royal commission.
“I wish to give the Premier and cabinet the opportunity to instigate a royal commission into this criminal dishonesty perpetrated (by IBAC),” he states in the letter.
“I will understand if cabinet does not take action in relation to this matter due to the possible fallout politically in an election year; it will then be my intention to right a wrong that has destroyed many lives and cost Amanda hers.”
In the letter, Mr Woodman also raised his association with the Premier, stating: “… at no stage have I discussed projects including C219 with the Premier.
“This includes phone calls (of which there were nil), meetings both formal and informal and/or social gatherings.”
An IBAC spokesperson said: “Witness welfare is a primary consideration for IBAC in all its work.
“IBAC must regularly assess and balance the welfare of witnesses, and persons of interest, with its mandated purpose to expose and prevent corruption.
“In recognition of the need to balance these considerations, parliament legislated a number of provisions which protect the rights, safety and welfare of witnesses and others involved in IBAC investigations.
“IBAC provides a range of measures to support the welfare of all witnesses, particularly those involved in public examinations, including ongoing access to counselling services from the time their summons is served.”
An Andrews government spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on matters that may be subject to court proceedings or to investigations.”
Stapledon took her life on January 17-18, three days after IBAC sent the 58-year-old single mother of a disabled son its draft report into Operation Sandon, citing evidence she had failed to declare a $25,000 political campaign donation, while she ran for the Liberal Party in the 2014 state election, from Mr Woodman.
Stapledon’s supporters say the former mayor’s public examination and the marathon probe left her feeling humiliated, isolated and paranoid and the draft report tipped her over the edge.
Mr Woodman was the first witness called by IBAC in Operation Sandon and faced six days of public examination.
“I have no idea why IBAC’s gone so hard,” he said.
“I think they thought (Sandon) was going to be bigger than Ben-Hur, got carried away with the investigation, and are now trying to justify its conduct by going so hard,” he said.
IBAC is one of the most powerful arms of Victoria’s justice system, with legal powers to execute raids, tap phones, conduct undercover surveillance and hold public and private examinations.
The Australian is not suggesting that IBAC or Mr Redlich have done anything improper in using the extremely broad and coercive powers afforded to them under the IBAC Act.
Mr Woodman is particularly aggrieved that IBAC described him more than 5000 times during hearings and in reports as a “property developer”, claiming he and his firm Watson Pty Ltd are “consultants”.
The distinction, Mr Woodman says, is critical because he says as consultants he would receive the same payment over a development whether a rezoning application was successful or not.
“This criminally negligent, intellectually dishonest characterisation by (IBAC) is solely an attempt to criminalise my professional work,” he said.
“As consultants, we are interested in maximising profit but (our payment) is not tied to the same … this course does not suit (IBAC) as why would a consultant wish to bribe councillors for no financial gain?”
Mr Woodman said IBAC had access to more than 800,000 of his company’s emails after conducting raids on his consulting company’s offices.
Mr Woodman, who has launched action against IBAC to delay the tabling of the final report, says that the agency has yet to hand over about 20 per cent of footnotes that reveal evidence behind assertions in its draft report.
“We have 80 per cent of them; we’re still waiting for the other 20 per cent.
“In my view, the evidence in the footnotes we’ve so far seen does not support the assertions in the (draft) report,” he said.
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au; or call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36 or visit beyondblue.org.au
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