Construction union and ACT branch secretary charged with criminal cartel conduct
The consumer and competition watchdog has laid criminal charges against the ACT head of one of Australia’s largest unions for alleged cartel conduct.
On Thursday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it had laid criminal charges against the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union and its ACT branch secretary, Jason O’Mara.
The ACCC alleges the CFMMEU and O’Mara attempted to induce steelfixing and scaffolding suppliers to reach “cartel contracts” between 2012 and 2013.
The charges are the result of a joint investigation between the ACCC and the Australian federal police and came out of the royal commission into trade union governance.
“The CFMMEU and Mr O’Mara are each charged with attempting to induce suppliers of steelfixing services and scaffolding services to reach cartel contracts, arrangements or understandings containing cartel provisions in relation to services provided to builders in the ACT in 2012 to 2013,” the ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, said in a statement.
“These charges follow a joint investigation between the ACCC and the Australian federal police as part of the AFP’s role in coordinating and contributing to the joint police taskforce following the royal commission into trade union governance and corruption.”
On Twitter, the head of Unions ACT Alexander White claimed the charges were “politically motivated”.
“It is deeply disturbing and unprecedented for cartel laws to be used in a politically directed manner by the federal [government] against a union for legitimate bargaining,” he wrote.
“Make no mistake, these charges arose directly from the Abbott [government’s] politically motivated royal commission. The decision by the ACCC to investigate the CFMEU is a partypolitical action intended to demonise and delegitimise unions generally and the CFMEU specifically.
“Every charge levelled against the CFMEU in the ACT as a result of the royal commission into unions has been found to be meritless and politically motivated. This one will be no different.”
The royal commission into trade union governance was established in 2014 by the former prime minister Tony Abbott.
In May it was revealed that the department of public prosecutions had dropped blackmail charges against two senior figures within the construction union’s Victorian branch.
Another official with the construction union, former NRL player John Lomax, received a payout from the AFP after a bungled investigation. Lomax was charged with blackmail during the royal commission but the charges were dropped just months later.
But another CFMEU official, Fihi Kivalu, plead guilty to blackmail charges stemming from the commission. A third man, Tuungafasi Manase pleaded guilty to perjury after lying to the commission.
Led by the former high court justice Dyson Heydon, the commission advised authorities to investigate O’Mara and another official from the ACT CFMMEU when it released its findings in 2015.
At the time there was no recommendation to ACT prosecutors to consider criminal charges against Canberra officials.
On Thursday the ACCC said the charges were being prosecuted by the commonwealth director of public prosecutions. The first mention of the charges before the ACT magistrates court is scheduled for 27 September 2018.
The CFMMEU has been contacted for comment.