Stuart Robert case referred for police investigation by Labor

Disgraced minister Stuart Robert’s business dealings with a Liberal Party donor referred to police by Labor.

Stuart Robert, the outgoing Human Services Minister, lost his ministry at Saturday’s reshuffle.

Disgraced minister Stuart Robert has already “paid a very high price” for his business dealings with a Liberal Party donor, cabinet minister Josh Frydenberg said today, as Labor today referred the case for police investigation.

Mr Robert, the outgoing Human Services Minister, lost his ministry at Saturday’s reshuffle after an arms-length investigation by Malcolm Turnbull’s department exposed a previously undisclosed stake in Nimrod Resources, the company he helped promote on a controversial trip to China.

Mark Dreyfus, the opposition legal affairs spokesman, has written to Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin insisting on a “proper police investigation” into Mr Roberts’ conduct.

His letter, seen by The Australian, suggests Mr Robert may have committed offences including abuse of public office, punishable with a five-year jail term.

“It is clear that Mr Robert sought to benefit Mr Marks, a significant Liberal donor, but the revelation that Mr Robert himself stood to gain financially through his shareholdings in a company related to Nimrod is even more serious,” it reads.

The Prime Minister has been careful to say only that this created an ‘impression’ that Mr Robert stood to gain personally from his trip. Whether he intended to do so now merits a proper police investigation.”

“The Government has not released Dr Parkinson’s report, nor the information he relied on, and it may be that other offences also apply.”

Mr Frydenberg, when asked about Mr Dreyfus’s suggestion, said any police investigation should be allowed to run its course.

“I would not want to opine on that … other than to say that Stuart Robert is a valued colleague of mine, he’s in the parliament, and he’s paid a very high price,” Mr Frydenberg said.

The Commonwealth Criminal Code provides five-year jail terms for anyone who “exercises any influence that the official has in the official’s capacity as a commonwealth public official … with the intention of … dishonestly obtaining a benefit for himself … or for another person.”