Victoria police officer allegedly accepted bribes, failed to declare criminal associations

A Victorian police officer says he lost sight of his role in the force, after allegedly accepting cash to pressure people to resolve disputes by threatening them with criminal charges.

Probe… Detective Sergeant Wayne Dean. Picture: Kylie Else

Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog is probing serious misconduct allegations against a police officer who allegedly accepted bribes and failed to declare relationships with criminals, including gangland ­figure Mick Gatto.

Detective Sergeant Wayne Dean’s integrity is being investigated by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Comm­ission after a Chinese migration agent complained she had paid him and his associate $11,000 to ­recover a “significant amount of money” on behalf of a client.

She alleged Sergeant Dean conducted a “mediation” at Melbourne West Police station with the debtor, but her client’s money was never recovered.

Sergeant Dean agreed that he conducted separate but similar mediations following cash payments from his “friend” Bill Meletsis – a man with a criminal history – who he met on the beat at the Carlton Criminal Investigation Unit in the 1990s.

He initially denied cash was paid to him on the understanding that he use his position in the force to strong-arm debtors into repaying money by threatening them with criminal charges if they failed to resolve the dispute. Sergeant Dean agreed he accepted maximum payments of about $200.

Under questioning by counsel assisting the commission Catherine Boston, Sergeant Dean said the jobs he was asked to complete by Mr Meletsis started small but gradually became more serious.

“In my relationship with Bill … it was small things at the start and the jobs were getting larger and bigger. The investigations were getting more complex,” he said.

“(There was) more money involved … professional people involved. (It was) beyond my scope and capability.”

Asked if he agreed that he lost sight of his role as a police officer, Sergeant Dean responded “yes” and said he continued to carry out jobs for Mr Meletsis because he enjoyed conducting investigations. “I knew who the suspect was (and) I knew who the victim was,” he said.

Covert recordings played at IBAC revealed Sergeant Dean was sent by Mr Meletsis in February to find out if there was CCTV footage of burglars robbing about $1m worth of illegal tobacco from two storage units including one in Thomastown, a suburb about 17km north of Melbourne, and another in Coburg about 11km north of the city. He was sent to get the footage so Mr Meletsis’ clients could identify the culprits and punish them, Ms Boston alleged.

“I’ve got a lot of money coming for ya. $3000 in it for ya,” Mr Meletsis said in one recording.

Mr Dean said he did not take the conversation seriously. “I did not get $3000 for that job,” he said.

He admitted that he failed to declare a relationship with gangland figure Mick Gatto in the early 2000s and Mr Meletsis.

“I’m not passing the buck here because it’s my choice. I was never advised to put in a declarable association form for him (Mr Gatto),” he said. “It’s not just with those two people (Mr Gatto and Mr Meletsis). (There are) a lot of people who I could have put declarable associations with in my 37 years in the police force.”

A series of IBAC hearings will continue to examine allegations he attended residences of people involved in the civil disputes, threatening criminal charges if the disputes were not resolved and improperly obtaining contact details.

Mr Dean’s home and office were raided in February when about $19,300 in cash was seized.