Ralph Blewitt has been misquoted in The Australian newspaper in its 7 July 2017 article "I was stooge for AWU: Blewitt".

The misquoting is capable of harming Mr Blewitt's defence and should be corrected.

On Thursday, 6 July 2017 near the Perth Magistrates' Court, Blewitt was interviewed by Paige Taylor of The Australian and both he and Ms Taylor recorded the conversation.  Mr Blewitt has published his record of the interview to youtube and he states it represents the totality of the on the record conversation with the journalist.

The Australian's opening paragraph is: 

Former union official Ralph ­Blewitt says he was a bagman for an Australian Workers Union’s slush fund but he was also a stooge and a fall guy and others should be charged with fraud.

Mr Blewitt on tape:

There was no fraud committed by myself or any other party in this case, this is a case of secret commissions.

The fraud is a frivolous charge, it's totally incorrect.  What actually happened was there was agreement with Thiess contractors and Bruce Wilson.  Bruce Wilson and Thiess Contractors negotiated a deal for secret commisions.

Mr Blewitt was consistent and clear throughout his interview.  His position didn't alter.

He explained that he proposes to plead not guilty because he's been charged with deceiving Thiess when no deception took place.  Mr Blewitt didn't say "others should be charged with fraud", quite the opposite, he says there was no fraud by anyone.

The Australian's published story could harm Mr Blewitt's defence and it must be corrected.

In his video recording, Mr Blewitt tells Ms Taylor of meetings between Bruce Wilson and his brother in law Joe Trio of Thiess which took place in Perth, along with other meetings involving Thiess senior executive Nick Jukes and AWU National President Bill Ludwig in Sydney.

He says that agreement was for the payment of $300,000 over 3 years to be paid into the AWU Workplace Reform Association which he says, "which was established to receive the secret commissions from Thiess Contractors".

"There was no fraud, I was simply the bagman used by Bruce Wilson, Joe Trio and other parties, Bill Ludwig - they negotiated the deal for the secret commissions.  There's two parties to a...if THEY want to call it a fraud, it's secret commissions - the giver and the receiver.  Why am I being charged for fraud, when in actual fact, I had no party to the negotiations with Thiess Contractors for the secret commissions, I was not a party to that at all."

"The police have charged me with 31 counts of causing a detriment to Thiess Contractors.  I never defrauded anybody.  Thiess Contractors agreed.  The Chief Executive, the main man from Thiess Contractors met with Bruce Wilson, Bill Ludwig at a secret dinner in Sydney and agreed to a secret commissions package over the life of the Dawesville Cut Project.  Why aren't they  being charged?"

In the context of what Mr Blewitt actually said in its totality, it's selective and misleading for The Australian to report, "“Why am I the only one being charged with fraud? I was used as a stooge, I was the fall guy".  Mr Blewitt's concern wasn't that he was the only one being charged with fraud - a statement which invites the view that he thinks others should be "charged with fraud' as well.  Blewitt's clear and consistent position throughout the interview was that there's been no fraud, Thiess willingly arranged to make corrupt payments.

Here's Mr Blewitt's recording of the interview.

It's completely consistent with what Mr Blewitt told me in a recorded telephone interview at about the same time.

Why do journalists, publishers and their lawyers go so far out of their way to write Gillard and corporate executives out of trouble yet so freely drop Ralph Blewitt in it?