Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Jan 2
nd, 2016 at 2:48pm:
aussie100percent wrote on Jan 2
nd, 2016 at 1:55pm:
Its time wrote on Jan 2
nd, 2016 at 9:25am:
John Smith wrote on Jan 2
nd, 2016 at 9:20am:
[quote author=leeforward link=1451549194/33#33 date=1451633353]
You're the one claiming they only caught "small fry". I was wondering how you established that as fact.
they haven't 'caught' anyone yet ... they merely recommended further investigation ... of that 45 you'll be lucky if they catch one.
ICAC will still have secured the most high profile judo chops, and the most convictions .
Fateful trip to luxury Perth car dealer exposes TWU funds misappropriation
By Rebecca Turner
Updated 4 minutes ago
Proceedings at the Royal Commission
Photo: The trade union royal commission recommended Jim McGiveron and Richard Burton be referred to the Fair Work Commission. (AAP: Jeremy Piper, file photo)
Related Story: Further probe looms for union bosses who bought luxury 4WDs
Map: WA
It started with a fateful trip to a luxury car dealer in Perth three years ago and has resulted a damning exposure of how easily union money was able to be misappropriated by two Transport Workers Union (TWU) bosses.
This is how two luxury utilities vehicles started a money trail which led to the trade union royal commission.
It was a Wednesday morning in winter when Richard Burton, the assistant secretary of the WA branch of the TWU, decided to visit a couple of Perth car yards.
His colleague Glen Barron drove him to the luxury Barbagallo Motors dealership in Osborne Park and was under the impression that his superior was in the market for a new car for himself.
Amid the Lamborghinis, Maseratis and other luxury cars, Mr Burton had his eyes on a top-of-the-range Ford ute, the F350.
Mr Burton told Mr Barron he planned to sell his own Ford F250 to buy the new F350 for himself, Mr Barron later explained in a witness statement to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
Fateful day
MONGREL BASTARDS
fateful day for the union, which as the union representing workers in transport industries ranging from aviation to trucking knows a bit about vehicles.
Later that day, at 5pm, the branch's management committee, known as BCOM, met in the union boardroom.
For James McGiveron to remain in the room was to help cloud with sentimentality and emotion the minds of BCOM members who should have been allowed to think more hard-headedly about the meaning, the possible implications and the merits of the car resolution.
Trade union royal commission report
Among the 14 people in attendance were Mr Burton, the union's then branch secretary James McGiveron, and Tim Dawson, who was to take over as secretary in April 2014.
It was common knowledge among officials that Mr McGiveron, a formidable and popular boss who was also the national president of the TWU, planned to step down as branch secretary in the near future.
"He had been a very long-serving secretary," the final report of the royal commission said.
"He had a very forceful personality. He was deeply respected by the BCOM members. He was a man for whom they had great affection."
But Mr McGiveron made his intentions official at this meeting, announcing that he would resign and take up a newly created position as a gas and mining officer, leaving Mr Burton to take the top job from January 1, 2013, without having to face an immediate election.
The committee also passed a resolution that Mr McGiveron was to be "granted personal ownership of the union motor vehicle that he is driving at the time his employment ceases with the branch".
The minutes of the meeting do not identify who presented this resolution to the council, but the royal commission report said it was likely that Mr McGiveron drafted and recommended it.
Despite an obvious conflict of interest, Mr McGiveron did not absent himself from any discussions about it.
Minds of BCOM members 'clouded with emotion'
"For James McGiveron to remain in the room was to help cloud with sentimentality and emotion the minds of BCOM members who should have been allowed to think more hard-headedly about the meaning, the possible implications and the merits of the car resolution," the royal commission report said.
In his witness statement to the royal commission, bus organiser Kevin Starr explains a possible motivation behind the generous car resolution.
"I do recall the discussion in respect of this motion," Mr Starr said.
Close up shot of Former TWU national president and WA branch secretary Jim McGiveron
Photo: Jim McGiveron gives evidence at the trade union royal commission. (Fairfax Media)
"Around the time of that resolution, Kevin Reynolds had just retired from the CFMEU and he'd been gifted by the union a flash Range Rover.
"This was discussed at the BCOM. BCOM members also discussed that it would be an appropriate gesture to sign over to Mr McGiveron the car he was driving at the time he left."
But while Mr McGiveron had been driving a $50,000 Toyota LandCruiser when he supported the resolution, he left the union in July 2013 with a four-month-old, $150,000 F350 truck.
Six days after the meeting, Mr McGiveron handed over two contracts to buy two 2013 Ford F350s to his executive assistant Debra Hodgson and asked her to pay an $80,000 deposit to Barbagallo Motors.
In her wit
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