http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/tmomson-someone-else-used-money/story-...

Accusations are one thing Macca......Proving anything and taking it to court is another.....If this bloke was not holding up a minority Government I doubt the money would have mattered to anyone and I doubt Labor would have supported him.....Even if he is charged it will take years before he is convicted of anything.....It is a waste of time and money if the Coalition think it will bring down the Gillard Government.....Thompson will be long gone from Parliament before this issue is resolved one way or the other!!!


I'll prove I didn't use union cash for prostitutes, Craig Thomson tells lawyers

EMBATTLED Labor MP Craig Thomson claimed to have "travel documents and witness statements" to prove he was not the person using union money to pay for prostitutes.

Mr Thomson told lawyers investigating the allegations he used union funds to pay for prostitutes that he had "independent flight records" that would clear him and it was "impossible" he took $100,000 to bankroll his election campaign.

It is believed he used the same defence with ALP officials and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who says she has full confidence in the marginal seat MP.

In a letter seen by the Herald Sun dated May 1, 2009, Mr Thomson says he was "not the only holder of a card" that had access to the Health Services Union bank account and "all national office staff" had access.

It's the most detailed defence by Mr Thomson, who has declined to make the same statements in Parliament about the scandal that has rocked Labor.

Mr Thomson's letter to Slater & Gordon came a month after the allegations were published by Fairfax Media. He sued but then settled and paid costs.

On the allegation he spent $330 at a Sydney escort service called Aboutoun Catering on February 26, 2003, Mr Thomson wrote that he was in Perth between February 21 and 27.

He insisted he was in Melbourne on April 9, 2005, when $2475 was spent at Sydney escort services Keywed and $418 at Sydney's Nolta Pty Ltd on June 11, 2005.

"Travel documents and witness statements will verify this fact," he wrote.

But some statements in the letter appear to be at odds with court records.

Ms Gillard said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was trying to "bully authorities" when he criticised Fair Work Australia for taking "one hell of a long time" to investigate.

She hit back at reports her chief of staff, Ben Hubbard, called the industrial umpire about Mr Thomson. Labor said the call was made after the story became public.

"For a chief of staff to check a fact with a public servant is an unremarkable event," the PM said.

But the former registrar, Doug Williams, last night stood by his comment that the first time he heard from Mr Hubbard about Mr Thomson was in the early months of 2009, before the story was made public.

The latest revelations come as Fairfax Media reported that financial records linked to the time Mr Thomson was head of the Health Services Union are missing.

Both Fair Work Australia and an auditor have failed to track down documents for periods between 2002 to 2007 when Mr Thomson occupied the top job at the HSU.

HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson has told The Age lots of records have disappeared but there's no obvious reason.

An audit in 2008 revealed Mr Thomson continued using his union mobile phone and credit card after he resigned from the HSU and took up his position as a member of parliament after Labor swept to power in 2007.

The audit found the lack pf paperwork for many transactions has made it difficult to work out where union money has gone.

Like all company credit cards that have been used for personal use the money was quickly paid back.
If he didnt do anything illegal Im starting to wonder if its the only trick the opposition have up their sleeves and use it to destract from their lack of policies and ideas.

philperth2010 wrote on Feb 29^th, 2012 at 12:15am:





phil I would go along with all this.... if this wasnt taking so looooooong...

if I had all this proof I would be standing up in parliament waving it around.. no one would doubt it..

it also doesnt explain why he withdrew his litigation with the SMH... they accuse him of using the credit card for prostitutes in the first place....

why did he withdraw and therefore have to pay their court costs????????

with money he didnt have..


the is so much that is weird about all this..

it seems to me FAIRWORK have bent over backwards to disappear this case.. WHY..

why did he not question $5000 worth of prostitute work on his credit card he didnt make..???


why did he not report his credit card stolen???

along with his mobil phone as that is what was used for making the bookings???..

I am all for this being sorted and sorted properly not to keep the govt above water...


as we know this will be used in the future to save other pollies that do the wrong thing...

I am sure this gentleman has a lot of answers my god he has had enough time to think them all up..

documents missing another shreddergate... wouldnt you know it.

we have to be cynical it smacks of corruption.

BUMP

This could have been put to bed 2.5 years ago.

I dont have an opinion on Thompson.

I do have grave concerns over the integrity of FWA.

Maqqa wrote on Feb 29^th, 2012 at 9:07am:


It sounds like nothing was hidden and all money spent for his private use was paid back.
Maqqa..again I can only assume you have never had a business credit card and used it to travel interstate and internationally, to entertain clients etc for your work.
You really need to get into the real world of business instead of taking the oppositions word on how things are done.

adelcrow wrote on Feb 29^th, 2012 at 6:39am:


AFTER he was caught - not before.