Top QC says Matthew Guy’s IBAC decision is risky

Top QC Peter Faris has called Matthew Guy’s decision to refer himself to IBAC as ‘brave’.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

A leading Melbourne silk and former­ National Crime Authority head claims Matthew Guy’s decis­ion to refer himself to Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog is perilous, as there is a potential “live connection” between a Liberal­ Party plan to receive polit­ical donations and a dinner with an ­alleged mafia boss.

Peter Faris QC told The ­Australian Victoria’s Independent Broadbased Anti-­Corrup­t­ion Commission had enough investigative “teeth” to probe any possible connections between the state Opposition Leader’s dinner with alleged mafia boss Tony Madafferi and Liberal Party plans to receive donations from the men attending the dinner.

“I think they’re effective and they’ve got teeth in the sense that they can force answers to questions — if you can compel witnesses to answer questions, then you’re 90 per cent of the way there,” he said. “That’s more than the police have.”

On Wednesday, the Victorian Liberal leader referred himself to IBAC for investigation after revel­ations that he had attended a dinner at Melbourne’s Lobster Cave restaurant alongside alleged underworld figure Mr Madafferi and other family members.

Leaked phone conversations emerged showing Liberal Party member Barrie Macmillan, who organised the dinner, discussing plans to sec­ure donations from the group, including a strategy to break the donations into smaller amounts that would not trigger political donation disclosure laws.

Mr Faris described Mr Guy’s referral as a brave move. “There was a guy on the phone talking about donating a lot of money, so it’s not as if it has got nothing to do with donations ... that’s a very live connection.

“Put it this way, I would never tell a client to go there ... you’d have to be out of your head.”

In the phone conversations, Mr Macmillan can be heard to say about the dinner guests: “They want to give Matthew a substantial donation towards next year.

“You can’t associate Matthew with money and I would have to be the intermediary. But I’m talking about a swag of money that they’re prepared to give for them (Mr Guy’s campaign).

“Now, whether we have to do it in $13,000 lots, or how it comes, I’m not going to involve Matthew in handling any money, any cheques.’’

Mr Madafferi denies any links to organised crime and has never been charged with a crime.

Yesterday he threatened legal action against the Andrews governmen­t over claims made in parliament by Deputy Premier James Merlion that he said painted him as a mobster.

A spokesman for Mr Guy said he would co-operate fully with the investigation and provide whatever materials or documents the commission requested.

He said he had no knowledge of any plan to receive donations from the men at the dinner, and maintains he did not know in advance who would attend the meal.