Victorian CFMEU secretary John Setka also singled out by counsel assisting with charges recommended for alleged blackmail

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A submission by counsel assisting to the royal commission on trade union corruption has recommended criminal charges in relation to embezzlement and blackmail in some of the movement’s branches.

Senior counsel Jeremy Stoljar submitted that the Victorian secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) John Setka had “committed the offence of blackmail” for his involvement in the $10m boycott of concrete company Boral.

Stoljar recommends Setka be charged and prosecuted by Victorian authorities.

The submission notes that the CFMEU committed other criminal acts in the Boral case.

The CFMEU issued a “black ban” on Boral because the concrete giant had dealings with Grocon, a company that was involved in a dispute with the union.

“Boral’s only sin as far as the CFMEU was concerned was that Boral was supplying concrete to Grocon. The CFMEU had no industrial issue with Boral whatsoever. Boral was an innocent third party,” the document states.

It notes that the union had a disregard for court orders in the case.

Stoljar also said that embattled Health Services Union (HSU) office holder Kathy Jackson committed an offence by submitting a false claim of payment to the Peter Mac Institute, a cancer hospital.

“The Commissioner should recommend that the relevant prosecuting authorities in Victoria consider whether she should be charged and prosecuted,” the senior counsel said.

It’s alleged that Jackson requested a $250,000 payment be made to the HSU relating to an industrial dispute between the hospital and its scientists. The subsequent payment saw scientists at the hospital lose their rights to back pay.

Jackson then allegedly used the money on a slush fund for herself and former husband.

Jackson did not respond to Guardian Australia’s request for comment on the matter.

The submission did not delve into the ongoing legal proceedings relating to the HSU.

The senior counsel notes that the problems within the HSU are “voluminous, numerous, overlapping and complex”, stating that there was a wide range of improper conduct among officials of the union ranging from bullying, threats of litigation and corruption.

The inquiry’s commissioner, former High Court Justice John Dyson Heydon, will issue an interim report into the commission’s findings in mid-December.