Union royal commission: David Asmar ‘too sick’ to front inquiry

Federal police served Bill Shorten ally David Asmar with a summons to appear as he boarded a flight to Lebanon.

Senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption Jeremy Stoljar SC told of repeated ‘unsuccessful attempts’ to serve David Asmar with a summons.

Labor factional powerbroker and Bill Shorten ally David Asmar has defied a summons to appear before the trade union royal commission to answer questions about receiving “significant” donations from an Australian Workers Union-linked slush fund.

Federal police served Mr Asmar at Melbourne Airport with a summons to appear before the commission after an alert was triggered as he boarded a flight to Lebanon in September, the inquiry heard yesterday.

Senior counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar, told of repeated “unsuccessful attempts” over the past year to serve Mr Asmar with a summons.

Mr Asmar, implicated in a Victorian branch-stacking scandal in which ALP memberships were allegedly bought using prepaid gift cards, finally agreed through his solicitors to appear at a hearing scheduled for yesterday.

However, commission solicitors learned on Monday that Mr Asmar, whose wife Diane Asmar is state secretary of the Health Services Union in Victoria, was still in Lebanon and would not be attending on medical grounds.

Mr Asmar allegedly received tens of thousands of dollars from the Industry 2020 slush fund, set up by Victorian Labor MP Cesar Melhem while state secretary of the AWU, which donated to the Opposition Leader’s election campaign.

Mr Melhem told the inquiry the donations to Mr Asmar were for use in Ms Asmar’s HSU election campaign in 2012.

The claims were refuted by Mr Asmar in written evidence to the commission and Ms Asmar has denied any knowledge of how her campaign was funded.

Mr Asmar, who has worked as a staffer in the office of Labor senator Stephen Conroy, was “associated with Cesar Melhem and was the recipient of significant funds from Industry 2020,” Mr Stoljar told the inquiry yesterday. “One issue the commission has been considering is what Industry 2020 funds were used for, including those funds supplied to Mr Asmar.”

A notice to produce details of ALP memberships that might have been bought with Industry 2020 funds served on the party’s branch by the commission was branded “McCarthyism” by the ALP last month.