Union royal commission: fees paid for tattoo of Belan’s parents

He used NUW funds to pay for a tattoo of his parents, but Derrick Belan told the trade union inquiry he’s “no thief”.

Former NSW secretary of the National Union of Workers (NUW) Derrick Belan arrives the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in Sydney, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. The Commission is probing suspicious spending, possible embezzlement and other activities at the NUW, with its former NSW secretary Derrick Belan being summoned from a psychiatric hospital to give evidence. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

He used National Union of Workers funds to pay for a striking tattoo of his mother and ­father and confessed to having $25,000 sitting in his car from a union-linked slush fund, but former NSW boss Derrick Belan has declared to the trade union royal commission, “I’m no thief”.

Mr Belan yesterday blamed his downfall after 11 years as state secretary of the NUW’s NSW branch on the niece he appointed union bookkeeper, Danielle O’Brien, allegedly telling his deputy “my worst enemy couldn’t have f..ked me any more than my own niece has just done to me”.

A week after arriving at the royal commission unshaven and in a black hoodie, a clean-cut Mr Belan took the stand in suit and tie to deny any part in the spending of union funds on “personal” items from shopping to dating websites, and denied a claim he funnelled branch money to Ms O’Brien through PayPal to pay his bills.

In an erratic performance, Mr Belan repeated that he had not stolen or authorised anyone to commit fraud at least five times, cracked a joke from the stand and required two short adjournments when he was “feeling light-headed” and said he had “blurry” vision.

A P&O cruise Mr Belan took, paid for on his own union credit card, he claimed to have thought was a “gift” from Ms O’Brien, who has previously wept openly on the stand while apologising for using her credit card to buy personal items, and his brother, NUW ­organiser Nicklouse.

Mr Belan said he used the union card to pay for groceries when he “ran out of money” on holiday, and also for a $432 tattoo at the Buen-Arte tattoo studio in Emu Plains when a nearby ATM “didn’t have any cash”, but he insisted he “informed Danielle that was done and asked her to remove it out of my wages”.

“I sit here today embarrassed, humiliated, I was devastated when it came out, I am still,” Mr Belan said. “I did not and would not steal from my organisation. I did not authorise anyone to steal from my organisation.”

Mr Belan was asked by counsel assisting the commission, Sarah McNaughton SC: “It’s all Danielle’s fault is it?”

“I believe it is,” he replied.

Documents tendered to the inquiry earlier yesterday revealed former assistant Wayne Meaney, now NSW secretary, agreed to a $328,000 termination payout on Mr Belan’s resignation from the union on October 26.

The termination payout, which has not been awarded, was accompanied by a legal document protecting Mr Belan from any legal action taken by the union that was later torn up by the NUW’s national office. Mr Belan was also quizzed about a union-linked slush fund, which contained thousands of dollars from branch funds.

Mr Belan, who said the money was kept in cash because “I don’t like banks” and it is “easier to ­access”, admitted he took the money from a safe in the office owing to “trust issues” arising after royal commission notices to produce were served on the union.

Asked by Ms McNaughton where the money was now, Mr Belan said: “In the car. ... I was told by the lawyers today you may wish to see it or ask where it is.”

In a signed statement, tattoo artist William Buenen said Mr Belan came back after he received the tattoo in June last year.

“[H]e came in to tell me that: ‘My mother cried when I showed her my tattoo. She said to tell you thank you for making me look so young and beautiful’,” Mr Buenen said.