O7540 Justice

Officer admits cash for contracts scam

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Original article by Adam Carey
The Age – Page: 8 : 5-Aug-14

A project officer with Public Transport Victoria made a surprising admission at the first public hearing of Victoria’s Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission. He conceded that he had accepted cash and gifts in exchange for giving contracts worth $A25 million to businesses he established with a former public servant. He said he was surprised that his fraudulent activities were not discovered earlier

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. INDEPENDENT BROAD-BASED ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, PUBLIC TRANSPORT VICTORIA (PTV)

Police union demands 1800 extra officers on street

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Original article by Rania Spooner
The Age – Page: 4 : 1-Aug-14

The Police Association of Victoria wants the number of police officers in the state to be increased by 1,880 by the end of 2018. The Police Association’s secretary, Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles, says there is a need for more officers who can respond to emergency calls rather than working for taskforces. He notes that there has been a sharp increase in crime in parts of Melbourne that are experiencing high population growth

CORPORATES
VICTORIA POLICE, THE POLICE ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA, PRESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Kathy Jackson hires a lawyer after union inquiry ‘ambush’

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 31-Jul-14

The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption has been told that Health Services Union official Kathy Jackson withdrew A$50,000 from a union "slush fund" in 2009 and gave the money to her ex-husband. When confronted with evidence of the withdrawals at a hearing on 30 July 2014, Jackson asked for legal representation, and the hearing was adjourned. She later complained to journalists that she had been "ambushed"

CORPORATES
HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, NATIONAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, PETER MACCALLUM CANCER INSTITUTE

Nurse injured in violent attack wins payout

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Original article by Nick Toscano
The Age – Page: 4 : 31-Jul-14

The Supreme Court of Victoria will hear a claim by the Victorian WorkCover Authority against Victoria Police. The workers’ compensation provider seeks to recover some of the $A500,000 it paid to a nurse permanently injured in a violent attack by a drug addict at Latrobe Regional Hospital. The employer and the police force have already struck an out-of-court settlement with the victim, and a factor was that three police officers allegedly did not properly restrain the attacker

CORPORATES
VICTORIA POLICE, VICTORIAN WORKCOVER AUTHORITY, LATROBE REGIONAL HOSPITAL PTY LTD, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY COUNCIL INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN NURSING FEDERATION

Boards seeking new legal shields

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Original article by Annabel Hepworth
The Australian – Page: 20 : 31-Jul-14

Attorney-General George Brandis and other politicians are being lobbied by the Australian Institute of Company Directors. It wants to see the inclusion of an "honest and reasonable director" defence in the Corporations Act, to give company boards better protection in cases launched over alleged breaches of the law as well as of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission Act. The professional body notes that the majority of serious offences in the Corporations Act feature a dishonesty component. The call for reform is separate to any expansion of the current business judgment rule

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF COMPANY DIRECTORS, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX

Court upholds four of five ICAC rulings

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Original article by Anthony Klan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 30-Jul-14

The New South Wales (NSW) Independent Commission Against Corruption in 2013 ruled against five businessmen involved in the Cascade Coal scandal. The Supreme Court has now rejected appeals against the corruption findings that were launched by Travers Duncan, John McGuigan, John Atkinson and Richard Poole. However it did overturn the ruling against John Kinghorn, who had sat on the Cascade board from February 2009 to September 2013. The company had acquired and on-sold a mining lease that was improperly granted in 2008 by then mining minister Ian Macdonald to Australian Labor Party figure Eddie Obeid

CORPORATES
CASCADE COAL PTY LTD, WHITE ENERGY COMPANY LIMITED – ASX WEC, RAMS HOME LOANS PTY LTD, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Mighty slip-up as former speaker guilty of dishonesty

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Original article by Megan Gorrey
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 1 & 5 : 29-Jul-14

The Australian Capital Territory Magistrates’ Court will sentence Peter Slipper on 22 September 2014. The former speaker of the federal lower house has been convicted of dishonestly using government taxi vouchers on three separate occasions in 2010. His lawyer had argued that the prosecution had failed to prove that Slipper had not been on parliamentary business at the time. Slipper had pleaded not guilty

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY MAGISTRATES’ COURT, CLONAKILLA WINES PTY LTD, POACHERS PANTRY, DOONKUNA ESTATE PTY LTD, YASS VALLEY WINES, SHAW ESTATE VINEYARD, GALLAGHER WINES, AUSTRALIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

Harsh penalties sought for Prime directors

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Original article by Pia Akerman
The Australian – Page: 19 : 29-Jul-14

Ian Martindale QC, on behalf of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, has urged Federal Court judge Bernard Murphy to impose the maximum fines as well substantial bans on former board members of the failed Prime Retirement & Aged Care Property Trust. The breaches of the Corporations Act should result in a 25-year ban from acting as a director for Bill Lewski, and one of seven to 12 years for ex-federal health minister Michael Wooldridge. Co-accused Peter Clarke meanwhile has sought to revise his previously given testimony

CORPORATES
PRIME RETIREMENT AND AGED CARE PROPERTY TRUST, AUSTRALIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED – ASX API, VISION EYE INSTITUTE LIMITED – ASX VEI, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Lend Lease victory in Barangaroo union fight

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Original article by Greg Brown|Sarah Danckert
The Australian – Page: 23 : 25-Jul-14

Australia’s Fair Work Commission has banned workers at Lend Lease Group’s Barangaroo South project in Sydney from engaging in unlawful strike action for three months. Some 1,000 members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union went on strike on 24 July 2014. The dispute centres on Lend Lease’s decision to stand down a union delegate in March after he raises concerns about safety at the construction site

CORPORATES
LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Expert says painting looked ‘odd’

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Original article by Anne Davies
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 12 : 25-Jul-14

Supreme Court of New South Wales judge Patricia Bergin is hearing a suit launched over an allegedly fake Albert Tucker painting by barrister Louise McBride. The respondents are auctioneer Christie’s, art dealer Alex Holland and Vivienne Sharpe, who had acted as adviser to McBride on the purchase of the work. The court on 24 July heard the testimony of Tucker expert Lauraine Diggins, who said she had doubts at the time about the authenticity of "Faun and Parrot"

CORPORATES
CHRISTIE’S AUSTRALIA PTY LTD|DEUTSCHER AND HACKETT PTY LTD|SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES