The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/9904/07/text/pageone4.html Corrigan evidence referred to DPP Date: 07/04/99 By PAUL ROBINSON The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has referred evidence given by the chairman of Patrick Stevedores, Mr Chris Corrigan, during the waterfront dispute to the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions. The commission has raised questions with the DPP about the evidence given by Mr Corrigan in February 1998 concerning his financial involvement in the controversial Dubai training exercise. It is believed the commission's former registrar, Mr Michael Kelly, notified the DPP late last year of the concern of vice-president Iain Ross following financial and documentary evidence presented in affidavits by Mr Corrigan's business associates last May. The revelations come a year to the day after Mr Corrigan's company, Patrick Stevedores, locked out its Maritime Union of Australia workforce and attempted to replace them with trained, non-union labour. A spokeswoman for Patrick said Mr Corrigan was not aware of any concerns in relation to the evidence he had given. "This is all a bit of a surprise to us ... Chris Corrigan stands by his evidence to the AIRC," she said. Mr Kelly is believed to have referred the matter to the then DPP, Mr Brian Martin, who became a Supreme Court judge in South Australia earlier this year. Justice Martin refused to comment on the specific issue but said generally the DPP often engaged in dialogue and correspondence with courts about their concerns without the need for formal references. A spokeswoman for the acting DPP, Mr Peter Walsh, said: "The office does not comment on operational matters." Mr Kelly said he had been asked about Mr Corrigan's evidence at a Senate inquiry last June: "I told them that no complaint had been made at that time." Asked if a complaint had since been made, Mr Kelly said: "No comment." The commission president, Justice Geoff Giudice, and Mr Ross were also unavailable for comment. The affidavits, filed by Mr Mike Wells of Fynwest, a company formed to enlist former military men for waterfront training in Dubai, showed that Mr Corrigan appeared to have a financial involvement in the exercise. However, Mr Corrigan told the February 1998 hearing of the commission, before Mr Ross, that he was not financially involved in the project. Patrick Stevedores called for the hearing to prevent industrial action by waterside workers in Victoria. Asked in the hearing by the ACTU assistant secretary, Mr Greg Combet, if Mr Corrigan's approaches to Mr Wells involved any "financial obligations" for Patrick or its parent company, Lang Corporation, Mr Corrigan replied: "None." Mr Combet: " ... did Patrick's Stevedoring accept any financial obligation at all in relation to the recruitment of the personnel?" Mr Corrigan: "No." Mr Combet: "Did the Lang Corporation accept any financial obligation in relation to the recruitment of personnel?" Mr Corrigan: "No." However, the Wells affidavit challenges Mr Corrigan's evidence: "The answer is untrue. He totally funded the Dubai operation, refer to bank documents." The documents refer to Fynwest bank statements and business agreements released by Mr Wells. One document represents an agreement between Container Terminal Management Services (CTMS), a company directed by Mr Wells and his partner, Mr Peter Kilfoyle, and Patrick The Australian Stevedores (PTAS), represented by its executive chairman, Mr Corrigan. The agreement is dated and signed by the three on October 23, 1997. Under the agreement CTMS would act for Patrick in "selecting, recruiting and training suitably qualified specialists in the Container Terminal Operations areas to be provided as required to supplement specialist staffing needs of PTAS". The agreement stated that PTAS would pay CTMS an initial retainer of $30,000 and a management fee of $4,000 a week from October 20, 1997. Under the agreement, PTAS would also pay CTMS a "placement fee" of "end-agreed salary for each staff member once signed up for specialist training". PTAS would establish a line of credit with a bank nominated by CTMS and deposit ongoing funds as required to cover training, movement, salaries and accommodation costs of selected trainees. The documents also show Commonwealth Bank, Ballarat, records on January 9, 1998. They list a credit of $125,000 from Patrick in an account named International Port Services Account Training Group Pty Ltd, a company of which Mr Wells was a director. The ACTU's Mr Combet said the union movement was "surprised" at the apparent lack of action over the "inconsistencies" between Mr Corrigan's evidence and the material on the public record. "These inconsistencies must be investigated. We call upon the responsible authorities to be as vigorous as they generally are when running the ruler over unions." - The Age This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
