Cops wanted Julia Gillard's ex, Bruce Wilson, charged

DETECTIVES wanted former Australian Workers' Union boss Bruce Wilson and his then alleged bagman, Ralph Blewitt, prosecuted over a fraud.

Bruce Wilson

INTERNAL documents from an exhaustive police probe into a union funds scandal in the 1990s show detectives suspected former Australian Workers' Union boss Bruce Wilson and his then alleged bagman, Ralph Blewitt, were "crooks" and wanted them criminally prosecuted over a $400,000-plus alleged fraud.

The documents from the police file include letters showing leaders of the powerful AWU, which remains the most influential industrial supporter of the federal Labor government, were deeply annoyed that the two men were not charged with criminal offences.

Most of the funds that allegedly went missing had been paid into an entity, the AWU Workplace Reform Association.

Julia Gillard, as a solicitor at the time for Slater & Gordon lawyers in Melbourne, which acted for Mr Wilson, Mr Blewitt and the AWU, did legal work related to the establishment of the association in Western Australia.

At the time, Mr Wilson and the Prime Minister were in a close relationship. Ms Gillard has repeatedly and strenuously denied that she had any knowledge of what the association was going to be used for, and has also denied receiving any benefit. She has declined to provide further comment about her role at the time and referred the newspaper to her previous strong denials of wrongdoing.

In a 1997 memo, released under Freedom of Information last month, the WA police fraud squad's then Detective Sergeant David McAlpine described the alleged scam and how it involved soliciting large cheque payments from major construction companies.

Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt allegedly told the companies to make the payments to fund measures to improve safety for workers on construction sites. The police file shows that payments totalling more than $400,000 went through bank accounts tied to the AWU Workplace Reform Association.

However, police and the AWU found that the promised safety measures did not occur and the cash was siphoned off for the use of Mr Wilson, who had moved from WA to become the AWU's Victoria head, and his ally Mr Blewitt. The AWU's furious federal leadership, which did not authorise the new entity and knew nothing of its formation, made numerous formal complaints to police in Victoria and Western Australia, and launched actions in the Industrial Relations Court in a bid to recover the funds. Robert McClelland, Australia's future attorney-general, was part of the bid to recover the money.

A three-page memo from Sergeant McAlpine to the squad's legal officer, Samantha Tough, stated: "The point of this report is to obtain from you a better sense of direction in regards to charging the two crooks (Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt)."

Ms Tough's file-notes and other documents show she considered fraud, conspiracy and other criminal charges but concluded that police would need the co-operation of a key party, who declined to help. Ms Tough said search warrants should be executed in Victoria.

One of the AWU leadership's confidential letters to the fraud squad stated: "It is very difficult for people within the AWU to come to terms with these issues when they (have) seen other high-profile figures who have been taken to court recently, claiming money belonged to them."

Ms Tough was in agreement and noted: "I should add that the position we find ourselves in is extremely frustrating."

The police running-sheet states that "suspect withdrawals" were made to buy a Melbourne house at the centre of the alleged fraud, in Kerr Street, Fitzroy, in 1993. Mr Blewitt was the legal owner of the house, purchased with allegedly stolen money for the use of Mr Wilson in a transaction handled and part-financed by Slater & Gordon solicitors. The firm waived its conveyancing fees.

Mr Blewitt, 66, has now broken a 17-year silence on the matter in an interview with The Australian in which he has admitted his wrongdoing and pledged to co-operate in new investigations in Victoria and Western Australia. He said he would fully expose the alleged fraud and conduct of others to police and prosecutors in return for an assurance that he would not be prosecuted.

"I knew at the time there were sham transactions. I knew at the time it was wrong. My greatest fear is that I incriminate myself but this has to come out now," Mr Blewitt said.

The Fitzroy house became a key part of the police and union investigation involving Mr Wilson, who has previously denied wrongdoing, and Mr Blewitt, who now admits the alleged fraud.

Ian Cambridge, then national head of the AWU (and now a Fair Work commissioner), stated in an affidavit in the Industrial Relations Court in 1996 that he was "unable to understand how Slater and Gordon, who were then acting for the Victoria Branch of the Union, could have permitted the use of funds which were obviously taken from the union, in the purchase of private property of this nature, without seeking and obtaining proper authority from the union".

Asked to respond to Mr Cambridge's concern and the new revelations, Andrew Grech, managing director of the Melbourne-based firm, said: "These matters occurred some 17 years ago. Slater & Gordon is obviously a very different law firm to the small partnership that existed some 17 years ago.

"The people who were acting for the AWU at that time, have long since left the firm. No one who is at Slater and Gordon today has any personal knowledge of the circumstances surrounding this matter. And in any event, we would be restricted in what could be said because of client confidentiality. We are very proud of the firm that now employs more than 1650 staff across more than 80 locations throughout Australia and the UK."