Former prime minister Julia Gillard is facing further scrutiny of her role in helping to set up a fraudulent union slush fund as Victorian police prepare to charge a key player in the saga.
A senior Victoria Police detective has told self-confessed AWU bagman and fraudster Ralph Blewitt that he will very soon be criminally charged over his role in the union slush fund set up with Ms Gillard’s legal advice.
Mr Blewitt said yesterday he intended to plead not guilty and would instruct his lawyers to subpoena witnesses, including Ms Gillard, to give evidence under oath.
Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell of the Fraud Squad, who has been leading the two-year investigation, which provided key evidence to the ongoing royal commission into union graft, has told Mr Blewitt that at least two charges will be levelled in Victoria.
Mr Blewitt, who has admitted his involvement in fraud with his friend and former union boss Bruce Wilson, and their slush fund, the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association, yesterday said he understood others would be charged
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prosecution for multiple fraud-related offences [and] criticised Ms Gillard’s determination to deny under oath that thousands of dollars — “wads of notes” — were handed to her by Mr Wilson during the renovation of her Melbourne home, as witnessed by a builder, Athol James. Another witness, Wayne Hem, was also found to be truthful about $5000 being deposited in her bank account.
Gillard denies any suggestion of wrongdoing.
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Oh dear. Memory loss in one so young is a sad thing 😞
