news, crime

Canberra construction union official John Lomax has won an undisclosed payout from the Federal Police over his wrongful arrest during the union's royal commission. Mr Lomax sued the Australian Federal Police for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution after the charge was later withdrawn. Mr Lomax settled the lawsuit earlier in the year. While details of the payout are subject to a strict confidentiality agreement, Fairfax Media understand the figure is in the tens-of-thousands of dollars. The Australian Federal Police confirmed the claim had been resolved. "But the terms and nature of the resolution are confidential," an AFP spokesman said. Mr Lomax was arrested and charged with blackmail in July 2015 during the Canberra hearings of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. He pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court the following month. Police alleged he had forced a Canberra painting company to sign a union enterprise bargaining agreement, causing a financial loss. In October 2015, Canberra prosecutors offered no evidence in court and dropped the case. In 2016, Mr Lomax launched action in the ACT Supreme Court against the AFP to recover his legal costs and claim compensation. The civil case alleged three AFP officers had brought a trumped-up charge, which they knew had no chance of a conviction, against Mr Lomax in a bid to pressure the Canberra Raiders great into giving evidence against his union colleagues. Mr Lomax has declined to comment about the settlement. CFMEU construction and general national secretary Dave Noonan confirmed the matter had settled, however he said he did not know the specifics as the case had been run by Mr Lomax, not the union. However, Mr Noonan said a number of inferences could be made as a result of the deal. "The fact [the police] settled it means they didn't want the case to proceed and the facts to be made public," Mr Noonan said. Mr Lomax's case is one of a number of failures linked to the Coalition’s royal commission into unions, which was called by then prime minister Tony Abbott in 2014. In 2017, the AFP were also forced to pay the bulk of the construction union's costs for a court challenge against an illegal raid on its Canberra headquarters. Police attached to the TURC seized thousands of documents from the CFMEU's Dickson offices after evidence given to the trade unions royal commission in August 2015. The union then took legal action against the AFP in the ACT Supreme Court, claiming the confiscation of the documents was unlawful on numerous grounds and there was no evidence to support the issuing of a second warrant. Justice Richard Refshauge later upheld the majority of the union's challenges and found part of the search of the Dickson offices had been unlawful. This week, Victorian prosecutors dropped blackmail charges against militant Victorian construction union boss John Setka and his deputy, Shaun Reardon. It is not yet known if Mr Setka and Mr Reardon will seek to launch a wrongful prosecution action against authorities, or pursue civil action against Boral.

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