IBAC Victoria hearings LIVE updates Somyurek staffer claims he was ordered not to go to electorate office

Key postsHide key posts

Latest

1 of 3

Oldest

The public hearings running this week are part of an inquiry called Operation Watts into allegations of corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including members of parliament.

You can watch the hearing today, due to start at 10.30am, below.

The investigation is run jointly by the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Victorian Ombudsman and its remit includes allegations of branch stacking in the Victorian Labor Party, as first revealed in an investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes last year.

Branch stacking is an organised method of accumulating internal power in a party by recruiting, and usually paying the fees for, new members.

But it’s much more pointed than just that. The real question is whether public officers, including Victorian members of parliament, are engaging in corrupt conduct by directing ministerial or electorate office staff to perform party‐political work when they should instead be doing ministerial or electorate work.

It will also look at whether public money given by the Victorian government as grants to community associations, has been redirected and misused to fund party‐political activities, or for any other improper purposes. It will ask if ministers or others involved in granting the funds have “dishonestly performed their functions” or “knowingly or recklessly breached public trust”.

The inquiry will look into whether any public officer, their families or their associates, received a personal benefit from these things, and looks at what systems and controls are in place to monitor these money flows.

The hearing is expected to go for at least four weeks. It’s overseen by IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, and run by counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC.

Adem Somyurek and Labor MP Meng Heang Tak signed separate timesheets in which they both indicated a casual staffer was working for them on the same day.

Salazar Youhorn submitted signed timesheets from the two MPs - both from the Moderate Labor group - that he worked from 9am-5pm on June 18, 2020 in their offices.

Counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, said the timesheet signed by Mr Tak “seems more accurate” because there were additional details.

The timesheet Mr Somyurek signed noted he was “working on project”, while the sheet signed by Mr Tak stated: “data processing/office admin”.

Mr Somyurek conceded he was not very good at keeping tabs on his employees in normal times, but that it was harder to know what people were doing over the past year giving COVID-19 lockdown and working from home requirements.

St Albans MP Natalie Suleyman was told her father was employed in the office of federal MP Anthony Byrne for factional reasons and that he was not turning up to work.

Adem Somyurek appeared to have pressured federal MP Anthony Byrne to employ Hakki Suleyman, the father of Mr Suleyman, the inquiry heard.

Natalie Suleyman (right) pictured with Acting Premier James Merlino (left) on a tour of the new Sunshine Hospital ED.Credit:Justin McManus

“I wasn’t happy about doing it, I resented the fact that I had to do this, Anthony resented obviously having him,” Mr Somyurek said.

The factional imperative to get Mr Suleyman a job was because “they were giving me a lot of trouble”, the former powerbroker said.

Counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, repeatedly asked Mr Somyurek whether there was a “deal” involved in getting Mr Suleyman a job, or if there had been a quid pro quo.

The upper house MP said: “No.”

“No aspect of your discussions with anyone from the Suleyman clan involved the idea of Mr Suleyman not turning up to work?” Mr Carr said.

Mr Somyurek again responded: “No.”

Moments later, the commission pulled up messages from Mr Somyurek to Mem Suleyman and Natalie Suleyman - the children of Hakki Suleyman - and John Berger, a union secretary.

“I am actually furious with our conversation - u cannot put your fathers unjust employment circumstances solely on my shoulders, I have been working to assist him,” Mr Somyurek said in a text message to the trio.

“We found employment for him in the state system, unfortunately Telmo and Conroy knocked him off - I ended up having a brawl with the president of the upper house in support of your father.”

The message then read that Mr Somyurek had put his “20-year relationship with my friend Anthony Byrne on the line” and “put it on him” to give Mr Suleyman two days a week at his office.

“Yet that is not good enough. I tell you that we can get him back into the state system and u say that my sisters name will be compromised.

“Yet u ask that your dad work in Anthony’s office without having to turn it up - what about Anthony’s name?”

Adem Somyurek told IBAC he had under-spent on other allowances, including travel entitlements, and suggested employing a casual staffer - even if they did not have a lot of work to do - was a better use of taxpayer money.

“I’m not [going overseas and using travel allowances], I’m not using my office for that budget, I’m giving someone a job,” Mr Somyurek said.

“Giving someone a job is a good thing, it’s providing dignity to a person that has not got work. But you’ve got to be in the office.”

IBAC was also shown evidence detailing Mr Somyurek had signed timesheets for a casual staffer who was explicitly asked to work on factional activities on that specific day.

“Misuse of taxpayer resources, that’s what it is. You lied on the timesheets, and you know what he’s doing is ‘fixing member discrepancies’. What about that is not corruption, Mr Somyurek?” counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, said.

Mr Somyurek responded: “Yes, OK.”

Adem Somyurek is being asked about time sheets he signed for one of his employees, Jake Cripps.

The former staffer told IBAC in private hearings he was employed as a casual electorate officer early last year and was “told not to go to the electorate office”.

Mr Somyurek said that was “absolutely untrue”.

Counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, said Mr Cripps told IBAC investigators he did not do any electorate office work and it was a “charitable thing that he would be given in what I will characterise as free money by the taxpayer because he was going through a hard time”.

Timesheets of an electoral officer are shown to Adem Somyurek during the IBAC hearing.

The former minister refuted Mr Cripps’ evidence and said “I wasn’t that desperate to have [Mr Cripps], I’m not going to do that, no way”.

Mr Carr asked: “That would be the most egregious form of corruption, wouldn’t it, Mr Somyurek?”

Mr Somyurek responded: “Yes.”

The former minister said he told Mr Cripps to do constituent work, including answering telephone calls and responding to emails.

The timesheet explicitly states: “Please note payment must not be claimed for party political activities. See the members guide for guidelines and examples of what could constitute party political activities.“

Mr Somyurek said he had never noticed that directive.

Adem Somyurek said the Socialist Left faction had signed up 350 new members throughout 2019, prompting the escalation of a war with his Moderate Labor faction.

Mr Somyurek’s lawyer Jason Galluci started questioning his client after hearings resumed following the lunch break.

Lawyers for witnesses to the inquiry have a chance to re-examine their clients to clarify their evidence.

The former minister said he told federal Bruce MP Julian Hill he was not interested in going back to the factional wars of the 90s, in response to the Socialist Left faction signing up hundreds of new members.

“As a minister, going back to those bad old days was something I couldn’t comprehend,” Mr Somyurek said.

Adem Somyurek spoke of asking Victorian Senator Kimberley Kitching to get access to the entire electoral roll as part of a branch stacking operation to grow his internal power base.

In a recording of a four-hour meeting the inquiry has obtained, MP Marlene Kairouz, Mr Somyurek and factional operatives spoke of having access to the electoral roll in the western, northern and south-eastern areas.

Senator Kimberley Kitching during a hearing on the Australia Post inquiry, at Parliament House in May.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Somyurek in the meeting said he would ask Ms Kitching to get access to the roll for the entire state.

MPs get access to the electoral roll in their electorates to aid in their constituency work.

Mr Somyurek said if it was only a party rule not to access the electoral roll for other areas he wouldn’t have been too concerned, but if there was a legal ban he would have felt worried.

The commission has been adjourned for a 45-minute lunch break.

Adem Somyurek said he was initiated into a deeply embedded branch stacking culture within the Labor Party.

Commissioner Robert Redlich had asked Mr Somyurek whether he considered branch stacking to be part of his public duties after the former minister said MPs had to engaged with the organisation of the party if they wanted to keep their jobs.

“I got initiated into this culture and it was all intertwined, it’s all been intertwined, anyway I’ll leave it at that,” Mr Somyurek said.

“We know [public duties and factional work] is distinct, what I’m saying engaging the party organisation is important for any member of any political party because that’s the way you retain your job.

“It’s not obviously, strictly speaking, part of your brief as a minister, and as a member of Parliament’s legislation isn’t clear, and although the position description of an electorate officer also muddies it up as well.”

The former cabinet minister agreed with the commissioner’s statement that because branch stacking culture was so deeply embedded within the Labor Party, he never gave his ministerial and electorate staff explicit instructions not to undertake factional activities during taxpayer-funded working hours.

Counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, had been playing a recording in which fellow MP Marlene Kairouz, Mr Somyurek and other electorate and ministerial staff spent four hours during a working day discussing factional tasks.

Adem Somyurek admitted he “lost all perspective” in his war against the Socialist Left, and that the attitude at the time was the means justified the end.

Mr Somyurek said other factions were paying for fake members as part of a branch-stacking operation, but when Commissioner Robert Redlich asked if he had “cogent evidence”, Mr Somyurek said he hadn’t but argued IBAC should “apply the same level of scepticism” to that group.

Adem Somyurek in his second day of evidence.

IBAC played a recording in which a Moderate Labor factional operative told Mr Somyurek the signatures on a membership form were “significantly different” to the signatures at an ALP branch meeting.

The former minister responded: “F---.” And then, “Do people check that much?”

Counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, put to Mr Somyurek the signatures on the forms were forged.

“Forging signatures is a bit more serious than just not caring about the rules of a political organisation, isn’t it?”

Mr Somyurek responds: “Yes.”

Mr Somyurek asked Mr Carr which communities these members were from.

Mr Carr tells him to focus on his state of mind and “not worry about extraneous features”.

“This is an attitude that is embodied by that common phrase the end justifies the means,” Mr Carr said.

Mr Somyurek responded: “Yes. I’m not going to fight on this issue. There’s footage of me on 60 Minutes. I lost all perspective. You can condemn me in the strongest possible terms.”

Mr Somyurek said amid the pressure of recruiting, some may have “resorted to doing shifty things”.

Mr Carr responded: “All without your knowledge, I assume, the ‘shifty things.’”

Mr Somyurek replied: “Yeah, that’s right.”

The hearings have resumed following a short break.

Adem Somyurek told IBAC he was not aware of the allegations the “Kumar brothers” were paying for other people’s ALP memberships.

Moments later, the commission played a recording from March 2020.

Adem Somyurek during the hearing on Tuesday.

In it, Mr Somyurek said, “He’ll have to pay for the Somalis because I said to them ’down here, they’re mine you don’t have to pay for them.”

Mr Carr said Mr Somyurek is indicating he committed to paying for the memberships of Somali-Australians out of his own pocket.

He then accepted, the inquiry heard, the Kumar brothers allegedly “dipped into their own pockets” to pay for the memberships of Indian- Australians as part of Moderate Labor’s branch stacking operation.

“I’m not trying to say this was anything pure, I’m not trying to justify that, all I’m saying they were telling me these guys were paying themselves, and I had worked it out by this point,” Mr Somyurek said.

Counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC, said Mr Somyurek would have well known the fake ALP members from the Indian community were not paying for their own membership.

“What was it that caused you to have the state of mind you believed they were paying for their own membership?” Mr Carr said.

“Because we were told they were.“

Mr Somyurek accepted Commissioner Robert Redlich’s assessment paying for other people’s membership was “contrary to the rules and unethical”.

Commissioner Robert Redlich warned Adem Somyurek for the third time in just under two hours to answer the questions, telling the former minister his answers were “so lengthy, convoluted and around the point” that it was hard to follow.

“[By the end of the answer] I’ve got no idea what you’re actually saying in response to the question,” Mr Redlich said.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich.Credit:AAP

“Counsel’s asked you a specific question, you need to grapple with and you need to try and answer.“

The former Labor powerbroker retorted: “In that case you need to give me a third option, rather than just a yes or no, right?”

“Life is not that simple, it’s complex, it’s not just binary opposites, Commissioner, there are grey areas so at times you need to not give a yes or no because that actually might not be accurate.“

Commissioner Redlich said he wasn’t expecting Mr Somyurek to answer “yes or no”, but “you need to answer the question”.

The hearings were adjourned for 15 minutes.

Latest

1 of 3

Oldest

Share this post