Gatto blasts CFMEU ‘falsehoods’, flags lawsuit against Dutton

Underworld figure Mick Gatto has “denied all allegations” about his conduct in the construction industry including receiving payments from companies, including some linked to bikies, working on publicly funded projects.

Gatto was responding to a series of recent claims in this masthead and on 60 Minutes about his role in the building industry including revealing that an Australian Federal Police raid on his accountant earlier this month was linked to an investigation of suspect payments in the sector.

Mick Gatto attends the funeral of the father of a former CFMEU boss. Credit: 60 Minutes

Last week, this masthead also revealed LTE Construction Group was one of the building firms at the centre of recent federal police raids investigating suspect payments to gangland figures including Gatto. No charges have been laid and it is not suggested that any offence has been committed.

Geoffrey Watson, QC, who is working as an investigator for the CFMEU administration, previously told this masthead that subcontractors on Victoria’s Big Build infrastructure program had been paying Gatto to sort out union-related issues as recently as a few weeks ago.

He said that he had “seen evidence of it”, and that bikies who once ruled sections of the Big Build were still intimidating state government subcontractors.

In a statement on Monday, Gatto denied all accusations made against him, calling them “baseless, sensationalised and damaging to my reputation and personal life”.

“I have always conducted my business and personal affairs with integrity,” he said. “I will not allow these falsehoods to tarnish my name.”

Gatto has also expressed his unhappiness with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Liberal Senator James Paterson, who he says repeated some of the claims after they were aired.

At a press conference in Melbourne last Monday, Dutton called Gatto an “organised crime figure”, while Paterson also referred to Gatto.

Gatto has demanded Dutton and Paterson retract their comments, and said he would explore “all legal avenues” in responding to the claims.

“Ongoing public discussion based on these claims lacks the legal and factual foundation necessary for such allegations to be credible,” he said.

“I am confident that the truth will prevail.”

Dutton and Paterson were contacted for comment on Monday evening.

This masthead’s reporting has linked several projects backed by federal taxpayers to concerning conduct. Before Gatto had issued his statement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Melbourne that his government had taken “strong action” to clean up corruption linked to the CFMEU.

When this masthead asked how the government planned to stop infrastructure funding and contracts from falling into the hands of bikies, Albanese referenced Watson’s recent comments.

“I note … the fellow who was on the 60 Minutes interview the other night as someone who’s been engaged by the administrator that we’ve put in to control these issues,” Albanese said.

“He has been tasked as a direct result of the federal government’s actions, with the intervention into ensuring that the CFMEU were cast aside, those officials. So we have taken strong action.”

Albanese said he had dismissed former CFMEU boss John Setka from the Labor Party within weeks of becoming Labor leader.

In his interim report last September, Watson said his findings backed the earlier revelations in the Building Bad investigation first published in July by this masthead, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes of alleged criminality and intimidation in the union’s NSW and Victorian branches.

As part of the most recent reporting at the weekend, records sighted by this masthead reveal that LTE Construction Group owner Nikola Maric had made payments to two members of the underworld grouping, the Carlton Crew, including Gatto.

According to gangland sources and banking records seen by this masthead, Maric has directed multiple payments to be made to Gatto and the second Carlton Crew member via front companies linked to Melbourne accountant Charles Pellegrino.

Pellegrino’s home and office were the target of federal police raids earlier this month. There is no suggestion Pellegrino, Gatto or Maric are guilty of any offence, only that federal police are investigating why construction firms are paying large sums via suspected front companies.

LTE has won lucrative subcontracts on publicly funded projects including the Victorian government’s West Gate Tunnel and Ballarat Government Hub, and several major Queensland-funded government sites including the Logan Hospital expansion and Gold Coast University Hospital sub-acute expansion.

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