Labor MP set to sue union officials
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday February 18, 2010
THE federal Labor MP Craig Thomson is threatening a $1 million damages action against his old union, saying officials fabricated financial records to make it appear he had misused his union credit card.Mr Thomson - who is facing a preselection challenge for his Central Coast electorate of Dobell - was reported yesterday as saying that 13 members of the Health Services Union's national executive would be named as respondents in a legal action this week.The report follows allegations reported by the Herald last year that Mr Thomson's union credit card was used to make cash withdrawals totalling more than $100,000 over the five years he was the HSU's national secretary.The Herald also reported that the credit card had been used to make payments to a brothel and escort services and that union funds had been used to bankroll Mr Thomson's election campaign in Dobell.Mr Thomson has always strenuously denied the allegations, suggesting that the card may have been used without his knowledge or that the records had been falsified by factional enemies inside his old union.A spokeswoman for the HSU national president, Michael Williamson, said he had no comment yesterday.Mr Williamson is also the national president of the ALP.He is on the HSU national executive but it is not known whether he is one of the 13 executive members Mr Thomson says he will sue.The credit card statements in dispute are believed to be original documents provided by the Commonwealth Bank.They are believed to have been provided to the accounting firm BDO Kendall when it carried out an investigation into the allegations at the request of the HSU's national executive last year.The report from that investigation has not been released, though it is understood the federal industrial relations regulator, Fair Work Australia, has seen it and the credit card statements.A Senate estimates hearing was told last week the regulator was investigating the matter and would consider whether there were reasonable grounds for a formal investigation.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald
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