Ian Cambridge did not sound happy.

He's the National Secretary of the AWU and various state entities were up to shenanigans.

Put yourself in his shoes.   Slater and Gordon have gone strange, Bob Smith's not talking like he used to, quick turnaround from charging Wilson to paying him a big kicker to leave.....

Ian wrote to the bank again (following up the 9 August 1995) letter on 25 August, 1995.

He wrote again 4 days later, all the while noting the telephone conversations he also had.  

On 30 August, Peter McArthy of the CBA wrote this brief note to Ian.

On 8 September, Ian wrote to Bob Smith.   Would anyone care to suggest that the AWU governance model and adherence to its Rules might need a little workshopping by this stage?   Ian refers to Bob Smith providing details to the Finance Committee of the AWU about Wilson's operation of the AWU Members Welfare Association Account.   It must have been frustrating beyond words!

On 14 September, 1995, one month after Julia Gillard's first interview with Nick Styant Browne and 3 days after her full on the record questioning about Slater and Gordon's role in the AWU Workplace Reform Association, Bob Smith wrote to the AWU's bank in Melbourne.   He instructed the Bank Manager to feel able to pass on any information that Ian Cambridge asked for.

At this point, Ian Cambridge had no idea about the extent of Slater and Gordon's involvement.   There were rumours about Wilson's girlfriend the socialist lawyer, but that was the extent of connection between the firm and The AWU Scandal.   It would be 8 months until Ian discovered the Perth Association and 17 years until he found out about Slater and Gordon's role in establishing it.

So one month after Wilson got his payout, the AWU head office had its first glimpse into what happened on 17 August, 1995.   Here's Peter McArthy's letter to Ian Cambridge.   It shows him the bank cheques to bosses in huge amounts (the letter calls them bank charges, it's a literal, bank cheques were made out).

I think this second page of Peter McArthy's letter is one of the most important statements in this whole series of correspondence.

Under the terms of the deal presented to the Commonwealth Bank by Bob Smith, Bruce Wilson and Jim Collins in handwriting here,Wilson and Bob Smith stated that the AWU had "no interest" in the Members Welfare Association Account.   The CBA released the money to Wilson and Bob Smith, not the AWU.

McCarthy is correct in his interpretation of the agreement between Wilson and Bob Smith and what they advised him of in writing.   Wilson, Bob Smith and Jim Collins signed a joint statement or instruction to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia stating that "the only accounts that the AWU has any interest  is the AWU Vic Branch Account and the AWU Grant Account.

Notwithstanding that Bruce Wilson had collected all those cheques from Thiess, Leighton, Fluor Daniel etc.   Notwithstanding that Wayne Hem had been enlisted in depositing the money directly into the AWU Members Welfare Association No 1 Account, notwithstanding the statement at the 2 August Finance Committee meeting that the account was a mix of AWU and private funds, Wilson and Bob Smith stated the AWU had no interest in that money.

Wilson appears to have assumed the right of an owner of the funds.   The Bank was instructed by Maurice Blackburn in its letter of the same date (17 August, 1995) as to how to disperse the money.

The two letters are critically important.

Here is the hand written note.

That letter acknowledges the dispute between the parties, however the letter from Maurice Blackburn that instructs the bank does not make clear who is claiming to be the owner of the funds and thus instructing the bank via Maurice Blackburn.

So all that money was released to Bruce Wilson and Bob Smith, and what did Bruce do - return the money to the people who had paid it over to him.   He owned it, not the AWU in Bruce world.  

And what did he do - he paid it back.

Maybe the Minchin protocol started right there.