A very simple, clear cut case of theft by deception is staring Victorian authorities in the face - yet nothing is being done about it.  You may want to make a difference in that regard.  It's open to you to report these facts to Victoria's anti-corruption body, or such other bodies as you want to hold to account.

The matter involves 

• the current Victorian Solicitor for Public Prosecutions John Cain Jr, 
• a current Federal Court Judge Bernard Murphy,
• the former President of Victoria’s parliamentary upper house Robert Frederick Smith and
• Bruce Wilson, the then de-facto partner of former prime minister Julia Gillard

These 4 men acted together to steal $160,000 from the Australian Workers Union.  They did it to cover up payments of secret commissions to Wilson, especially through the AWU Workplace Reform Association (the slush fund set up by Gillard).

The stolen money

From December 1994 to July 1995 cheques totalling ~$160,000 were deposited into a Commonwealth Bank account styled  "Australian Workers Union - Members Welfare Association".

That account was controlled by WILSON.

The cheques came from 

• Woodside Petroleum (via its lawyers Philips Fox)
• John Holland
• Thiess Contractors (including $20,160 in a cheque made out to the Gillard slush fund)
• Fluor Daniel
• Chambers Consulting

Some of the money was union dues payable in respect of bulk union memberships.  Some of the money was secret commission payments.   Some of it was disguised as payments for services ostensibly rendered by the union.  All of the money was the property of the Australian Workers Union.

This Order (below) of the Australian Industrial Relations Court established ownership of the money.

The AWU told that court that it at all times owned the money. 

Each of the companies mentioned above stated that the money was the property of the AWU. 

This transcript (below) from proceedings to recover the stolen money before Judge Madgwick of the AIRC records the submission of Mr Herbert of Counsel on behalf of his client the AWU:

The AWU did not make those (re)payments....the payments were made by two individuals, but the money was the property of the AWU

At 9AM on 10 August 1995 John Cain Jr and Bernard Murphy met at Schwabs sandwich bar in Melbourne and discussed the fact that some of the money from employers in the AWU Members Welfare Account was secret commission payments made to Wilson.  

That does not change the ownership of the money.  A secret commission payment or kick-back dishonestly intercepted by an agent (Wilson) remains the property of his principal (the AWU).  The Murphy/Cain meeting does however cement their criminality.

The Deception and Theft

On 17 August 1995 Smith, Cain and Wilson in company with others attended at the Victoria Street Branch of the Commonwealth Bank.

This letter, hand-written by Cain records their deception.

The statement "The AWU has no interest in any other accounts held at the Victoria Street Branch of the Commonwealth Bank" was false.  It was deceptive. Each of Cain, Smith and Wilson knew it to be false. 

As a result of the deception, the Commonwealth Bank released the funds in the AWU Members Welfare Account directly to Bob Smith and Bruce Wilson, as this extract from a 29 September 1995 letter from the CBA's Peter McCarthy to the AWU's Ian Cambridge records:.

The funds were then converted into bank cheques and sent out as set out in this letter from John Cain to the CBA.

I will shortly publish more first-hand documentary evidence of Cain and Murphy's corruption - much of it in the men's own handwriting.

This is a disgraceful episode in the maladministration of justice in our country.  Much more to come.