Police grill bagman Ralph Blewitt over Julia Gillard ‘slush fund’

A key suspect in the AWU slush fund fraud that embroiled Julia Gillard has sat down with Victorian detectives.

Former Australian Workers Union official Ralph Blewitt.

A key suspect in the Australian Workers Union slush fund fraud that embroiled Julia Gillard during her time as prime minister has sat down with Victorian detectives working on the investigation.

Self-confessed AWU bagman Ralph Blewitt met the officers in Melbourne yesterday after travelling from his home in Malaysia.

He and Ms Gillard’s former boyfriend, the then union boss Bruce Wilson, face the prospect of criminal charges for their roles in running the AWU Reform ­Association fund.

Ms Gillard, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, provided legal advice to help Mr Wilson, her boyfriend at the time, establish the association that she later described to her Slater & Gordon bosses as a “slush fund”.

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Blewitt declined to comment on his meeting at Victoria Police’s Spencer Street offices yesterday, saying that his lawyer had ­advised him to stay silent. He posted on Facebook earlier this week that he was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne “to get an update on the AWU fraud case situation with the Victorian DPP”.

In 2014, royal commissioner Dyson Heydon recommended that Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt face prosecution for fraud-­related ­offences connected to the slush fund, with much of the commission’s evidence emerging from the Victoria Police ­investigation.

Mr Blewitt has previously said police warned him he would face at least two charges in Victoria, prompting him to declare he would insist Ms Gillard was subpoenaed to give evidence.

Mr Heydon found Ms Gillard was duped by her then boyfriend Mr Wilson in helping him to set up a fraudulent union slush fund that had one purpose, “swind­ling”, but she did not ­commit any crime. He accepted evidence from two witnesses suggesting Ms ­Gillard received “certain funds” from Mr Wilson.

She rejected the claims and ­denied receiving the money.