CFMEU Queensland headquarters in Brisbane raided

The construction union’s Queensland headquarters have been raided this morning.

Michael Ravbar (pictured) and Dave Hanna are facing possible charges over the alleged burning and dumping of documents.

The construction union’s Queensland headquarters have been raided this morning after the taskforce attached to the trade union royal commission executed warrants to search the CFMEU’s Brisbane office.

Dave Hanna (pictured) said he was ordered to destroy the documents by Mr Ravbar.

The Australian understands a team of more than 20 police officers are looking for potential evidence relating to the alleged destruction of documents in defiance of a royal commission subpoena at the branch.

Veteran union bosses Michael Ravbar and Dave Hanna are facing possible charges over the alleged burning, and later dumping of seven tonnes of Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union documents last April, although it’s understood no arrests are likely to be made today.

Mr Ravbar, the CFMEU’s Queensland secretary and Mr Hanna, the union’s former national president, may have committed offences under three different state and federal acts, including a Queensland criminal charge of “damaging evidence with intent’’, counsel for the royal commission argued in submissions to the inquiry published last month.

Mr Hanna told the Commission he was ordered to destroy the documents by Mr Ravbar, who claimed he ordered material not relevant to the royal commission’s notice to produce to be removed as part of a “general clean up” after the CFMEU’s merger with the Builders Labourers Federation.

Mr Hanna, who suddenly resigned earlier this year as national president of the construction division of the CFMEU and has quit the union, faces further possible charges for corruption after receiving $150,000 in free building work to his Brisbane home in a deal with construction giant Mirvac.

CFMEU construction division national secretary Dave Noonan branded the raid a “fishing expedition”.

“The branch has complied with every notice to produce and there have been dozens,” he said.

“The commission is struggling to land blows in respect of the CFMEU and this is a case of overkill.”

He added: “At a time when we’ve got heightened terror alerts and the community faces serious challenges in terms of drug dealing and violent crime the huge diversion of police resources to attack construction workers and their union seems like a waste.”