John Lourens with some financial analysis on the Melbourne Members Welfare Association accounts.

I have just been going over again some of the OLD material in my possession.  I noticed there is a large deposit and some large withdrawals from the AWU Members Welfare Association No.1 account in mid-1995: 

10 July, deposit $20,250 

12 July, (ref 000004), withdrawal $5,000

13 July, (ref 000005), withdrawal $9,000

17 July, (ref 000006), withdrawal $6,400

 The three withdrawals above total $20,400, which is very similar to the deposit amount.  I wonder whether that particular deposit occurred in anticipation of the three subsequent withdrawals?

 I also note the following taken from Wayne Hem’s Statutory Declaration:

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6.  On some date in mid 1995 Wilson called me into his office and gave me a wad of cash containing approximately $5000 cash. 

7.  Wilson told me to deposit the cash into an account in Julia Gillard’s name at the Commonwealth Bank.

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 9.  I recall the event because it occurred the morning after Wilson and Bill Telikostoglou, known as Bill the Greek, had spent an evening out at the casino.  Bill indicated to me that they did not have a good night, and I took that to mean they had lost money.

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Now, I think the following might be possible:

 (a)     The $5000 withdrawn from the AWU Members Welfare Association No.1 account on 12 July 1995 was the same $5,000 given to Wayne Hem by Bruce Wilson, and subsequently deposited into Julia Gillard’s CBA account.

(b)   Bob Smith, then Victorian Branch Secretary of the AWU, detailed how he had been approached by Mr Spyridis in 1995 who was demanding payment for work the builder had done on Ms Gillard's then home, in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Abbottsford.

(c)   Bob Kernohan recounted how, in 1995, he had been told by Bob Smith (with Bill Shorten being present) that around $17,000 was owing from renovations carried out on Ms Gillard’s home.  It is interesting that this amount of $17,000 is fairly close to the 10 July 1995 deposit of $20,250.

(d)     There were TWO unauthorised Union bank accounts in Victoria, both having the same name “AWU Members Welfare Association (No.1) Account” – account number 30008 1000 9028 having Bruce Wilson and Jim Collins as signatories, and account number 3262 1005 4541 having V Telikostoglou, M Murray and M Barnes as signatories.  The July 1995 transactions referred to above belonged to the latter account.

(e)    The account operated by Telikostoglou, Murray and Barnes had total identified deposits made into it of $32,907.  Of this amount, $7,200 came from “external sources” (that is, external to the Union) and $25,707 was of “unknown origin”.  It is possible that the account was used as means of channelling funds to pay for Ms Gillard’s renovations.  Someone (perhaps Wilson?) deposited $20,250 into the account on 10 July.  The money could have come from the large cash withdrawals made from one of the unauthorised accounts operated by Wilson (for example, the other AWU Members Welfare Association (No.1) Account - – account number 30008 1000 9028.

(f)   Analysis of the Telikostoglou operated account reveals that, in total, there was $17,500 in cash withdrawals and $24,900 paid to unknown payees.  At the end of its existence, this account was in overdraft by $9,659.

In short, I am not sure exactly how all the pieces fit together (or even if they fit together), but it does seems strange that the dollar amounts involved all seem pretty similar, and that all the events occurred around the same time.  Conclusive evidence?  Perhaps not, but certainly worthy of further enquiry by those interested in getting at the truth.

ENDS    

I posted a piece with a copy of a cheque drawn on the AWU Members Welfare Association for cash, and the proceeds of that cash cheque being used to acquire a bank cheque for Kon Spyridis, the builder who was known to be doing building work at Gillard's house as well as other jobs for Wilson.