Liberals suspect vengeful ‘rat in the ranks’ over Matthew Guy email leak
Victorian Liberals suspect one of their own MPs motivated by revenge was behind the leak of an email that triggered an integrity crisis and forced Matthew Guy’s senior adviser to quit.
Victorian Liberals are blaming one of the party’s own MPs for leaking details of an attempt by Matthew Guy’s senior adviser to top up his taxpayer-funded salary.
Party figures have told The Australian they believe the MP was involved in the leak that forced chief of staff Mitch Catlin to resign and triggered an integrity scandal.
The MP was motivated by revenge, the Liberal figures believe, in what one branded an “act of total disloyalty”.
The Australian approached the MP for comment but they did not respond.
It’s believed the suspect emphatically denied being responsible for the leak when confronted by colleagues
The Opposition Leader has been engulfed in crisis after Nine newspapers revealed Mr Catlin sent an email to Mr Guy’s private Hotmail account setting out the terms of a possible deal to get a Liberal donor to pay his private business about $100,000.
Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission confirmed on Thursday that it was assessing a complaint from the Andrews government over the matter.
“Every complaint IBAC receives is assessed in accordance with the IBAC Act to determine whether we will investigate it, refer it to another organisation for investigation, or dismiss it,” the commission said.
Labor referred the matter to IBAC, claiming Mr Catlin and Mr Guy should be probed for “engaging or conspiring to engage in potentially corrupt conduct”.
Mr Guy failed to offer detailed responses to questions for a third day on Thursday and described speculation about his leadership as “ridiculous”.
“I will not be lectured by this government on integrity matters,” he said.
“I will not be lectured by a government that is fundamentally corrupt.”
The Herald Sun reported this week that billionaire businessman Jonathan Munz refused the “unsolicited” donation bid from Mr Catlin.
“I do not know how many people received this unsolicited and unwanted email, but when I got it, I rejected it out of hand,” he said.
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