Victoria Police officer accused of ‘working hand in glove’ with underworld figure

Anti-corruption hearings into a Victorian police officer’s conduct have revealed he accepted gifts from a gangland figure and agreed he was a friend.

Mick Gatto. Picture: Getty Images

A Victorian police officer has been accused of working “hand in glove” with underworld figure Mick Gatto and supporting his mediation and debt collection hustle.

Detective Sergeant Wayne Dean denied the claims levelled against him at an anti-corruption hearing on Wednesday, but ­accepted that he was gifted free tickets to boxing matches worth thousands of dollars and received yearly Christmas cards from Mr Gatto, whom he called a friend.

On the second day of hearings probing Sergeant Dean’s conduct, counsel assisting the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Catherine Boston questioned him about his role in an attempt to pressure a pharmacist – in exchange for a bribe – to repay a debt owed to three women in 2019.

It was alleged that Bill Meletsis – Sergeant Dean’s associate who throughout his career of 30 years allegedly paid him to threaten debtors with criminal charges if they didn’t pay up – asked Sergeant Dean to help resolve the dispute with the pharmacist, while Mr Gatto also became involved.

Wayne Dean, left, and Bill Meletsis meeting outside Melbourne West police station on 15 February 2022. Picture: IBAC

It was alleged that Mr Meletsis and Mr Gatto were both engaged in mediation businesses and in this case both attempting to pressure the pharmacist to pay money.

Asked if he was working “hand in glove” with Mr Gatto, Sergeant Dean replied: “Not hand in glove.

“We both had the pharmacist as a common (factor) between the two of us. But I wasn’t working with him, no way.” Sergeant Dean agreed that it was likely Mr Meletsis visited the pharmacist and used Sergeant Dean’s name and role as a police officer to attempt to make him pay his debt. The now-suspended policeman also warned Mr Gatto not to make any “stupid threats” if he went to the pharmacist because it would be captured on video or by an audio recording.

IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich said Mr Gatto previously told the commission at a private hearing people went to him with problems and “we try and rectify them for a fee”.

An intercepted phone call revealed Mr Gatto told Sergeant Dean earlier this year “I’ve got your back” and “you’re a cham­pion” after he discovered he was being investigated by IBAC.

It was also revealed on Wednesday that on one occasion Sergeant Dean accepted a gift from Mr Gatto for a catered table for 10 at a boxing match in Kensington last year at a value of $4400.

As well, in 2015 he accepted four tickets to an Anthony Mundine versus Charles Hatley fight at Melbourne Convention Centre.

Sergeant Dean said his relationship with Mr Gatto started in about 1995, when they met casually at the La Porcella restaurant on Lygon St in Carlton.

“He was having lunch with his friends. I was having lunch with members from (my office),” he said. “He saw us, we saw him. I think he came over to us and said ‘G’day guys’ … it was a long, long time ago.”

Asked if he knew Mr Gatto was an underworld figure, Sergeant Dean said “Yes, I would have been aware of that.”

Mr Gatto was acquitted by a Supreme Court jury in 2005 of murdering hitman Benji Veniamin, who was shot in the head and neck at La Porcella in 2004.

Throughout the hearing, Sergeant Dean said it was part of role as a police officer to have contact with people with a criminal history.

The hearing continues.