The documents that show Ralph Blewitt was arrested, ready to be charged over the Gillard/Wilson Kerr St purchase
Tuesday, 27 March 2018
On 8 May 2014 - almost 4 years ago, Ralph Blewitt was arrested, fingerprinted, interviewed by detectives at the Victoria Police Fraud Squad offices and told he would be charged with fraud over the purchase of the Kerr Street property.
POL.ICE: Do you agree that you've been advised you're under arrest on suspicion of obtaining property by deception
BLEWITT: Am I under arrest?
POLICE: Yes.
A few weeks earlier, on 9 April 2014 Commissioner Dyson Heydon AC QC gave the opening address at the first sitting of his Royal Commission of Enquiry into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
Those who may wish to suppress true evidence or give false evidence or interfere with documents must remember this....each of those offences is punishable by imprisonment for terms ranging from six months to five years.
If, despite these heavy criminal sanctions, the conduct prohibited takes place, it is open to draw factual inferences against the persons responsible. That is because, for example, the conduct of giving deliberately false oral evidence, or procuring the giving of deliberately false oral evidence, or failing to give oral evidence, can suggest that the conduct proceeds from a fear based on the consciousness that the truth would be adverse to some position adopted by the person responsible for the conduct.
It can be easy to infer that the consciousness is soundly based. Similarly, the conduct, for example, of falsifying documents, or destroying documents, or concealing documents, can suggest that the conduct proceeds from a fear based on a consciousness that the actual document would be adverse to some position adopted by the person responsible for the conduct. For who knows how much harm a particular piece of evidence can cause better than the person who wants to suppress it or destroy it?
Dyson Heydon's strength is in speeches and fine sentiments. Action apparently is not his thing.
On the same day as Commissioner Heydon opened the batting - 9 April 2014 - Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell met with Ralph Blewitt's lawyer Bob Galbally.
Mitchell had two things on his mind - laying charges over the Kerr Street purchase, and gaining Ralph Blewitt's cooperation in testifying against his co-offenders - plural!
Letter to Ralph Blewitt - April 2014 by Michael Smith on Scribd
(Wilson) instructed us to set it up (Workplace Reform Association).
he had then received monies into it improperly.
he spent the monies improperly
he involved us in criminal wrongdoing, re the house (Kerr Street Fitzroy purchase)
Agreed I wld contact John Cain from MB on behalf of Wilson to negotiate a redundancy package + resignation for Wilson in the hope that if he left there wld be no further investigation.
O.K. So the reason you're here is - and it's been widely publicised is in relation to certain things that happen with you, Bruce Wilson and also the ex-Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard.
And certain things were done, whether in Victoria or Western Australia, but certain things were done in Victoria to - and this is what I want to interview you about......
Now, Ralph, would you agree that the - fundamentally how we came to be here this morning is that via your solicitor, Robert Galbally, I requested to formally interview you in relation to certain allegations of a premises in Kerr Street, Fitzroy, that was purchased, I believe, with funds that were stolen
And I advised Bob Galbally that subsequently you'll be charged in relation to your - the criminal offences that took place in Victoria and as - the obtaining of the Kerr Street property by deception
Right at the outset, confirmation that Ralph would be charged over his role in the Kerr Street purchase.
And so would others.
Mitchell delivered the legal niceties, covering off the caution without which Blewitt's answers might be inadmissible in court:
You've now gone to Victoria to meet with Julia Gillard, Bruce Wilson is with you and you say Bernard Murphy is there. O.K. Now, you're doing that because you've attempted to incorporate an association called the Workplace Reform Association and it's been rejected by the commissioner on the basis it sounded too much like a union.
That's correct.
But the reason that you've applied for this association is so Thiess can pay the AWU, is that right, for a workplace representative at the Dawesville project?
Yes.
From the policeman's own mouth, the reason for getting the sham incorporated wasn't to set up an election fund, it was so Thiess could make the payments from the Dawesville project.
The Fraud Squad detectives asked lots of open questions. There's no attempt to lead Blewitt in giving his answers. And they'd persist until they got what they wanted, like this about the slush fund:
Q. What's another term used for this kind of money?
A. Slush fund.
Q. O.K. It's been bandied around in the media again in relation to the slush fund, O.K., and that term was used, I believe, by Julia Gillard in her exit interview. Have you ever heard about the exit interview she did with Peter Gordon?
I have heard of it.
O.K. So she used that term. Is this the slush fund you believe she was referring to?
And Mitchell was pointed about where some of the slush fund money went - particularly given what he knew about the strength of builder Athol James's recollections and evidence about Gillard's renovations:
There's been certain allegations raised about some of the money being used for renovations on Julia Gillard's house. Have you got any comment to make about that?
I attended the Abbotsford property on arrival in Melbourne, went into the house. Bruce Wilson was there, Gillard was there in the front of the house, I walked past her on the way in, "Oh, Bruce is out the back, Ralph." The whole thing was just open, you know. I walked through. Wilson was in the kitchen area. There were some renovations going on, think the verandah predominantly, but I think some of the kitchen from - but certainly the verandah outside. There were three other persons there, to the best of my recollection. Bruce Wilson said to me, "Have you got that - you bring that money?" And I go, "Yeah, mate." He then asked me to give whoever that tradesperson was - and I can't recall now - $7000.
Blewitt was extensively quizzed about Kerr Street and the roles Gillard and Wilson played in the purchase. Overall, Gillard's name was brought up 38 times:
I'd spend Friday night, Saturday night in Melbourne with Wilson and I'd occasionally - and most times I'd stay at Kerr Street.
On most instances Gillard was there and around. We used to go and have coffee at the Fitz Cafe, or whatever it was, just on the corner. And breakfast and that, and we were just good mates, you know.
On and on they went. And there was no "if or but" during the formalities at the end of the interview - Ralph Edwyn Blewitt was formally advised he would be charged over the Kerr Street fraud
As I said, you're gunna be charged with obtaining property by deception. You do not have to say or do anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say or do may be recorded and given in evidence. Do you understand this?
Yes.
Do you wish to say anything in answer to the charge? No.
Do you wish to make a further statement in relation to the matter?
No.
I've got to ask you some questions in relation to your fingerprints. You are believed to have committed the offence of obtaining property by deception. Your fingerprints are required for the purposes of identification. Your fingerprints may be used in evidence in court. If you refuse to give your fingerprints voluntarily a member of the police force may use reasonable force to obtain them.
That was May 2014 - almost 4 years ago.
Police were obliged to wait until Wilson's legal privilege claim was finalised.
That happened in late September 2014.
Just before Dan Andrews and his CFMEU/Labor mates were elected to form the new Government of Victoria.
Police Commissioner Ken Lay lasted a few days under the Andrews regime.
The puppet who replaced him is no Ken Lay.
With its new Labor government, Victoria got a new Solicitor for Public Prosecutions.
John Cain Jr, the same man mentioned in Judge Murphy's confessional notes about Murphy involving Gillard and the Slaters crew in criminal misconduct over the Kerr Street purchase.
Corruption? You be the judge, it's hard to find good ones these days.
I posed two rhetorical questions to myself in the hope they might clear things up.
Q: What is it with this matter?
A: GILLARD
Q: Why are authorities so reluctant to act?
A: GILLARD
Man up authorities!!!!!
Cain and Ashton's circus decided no charges would be laid in Victoria.
They hospital-passed the files to Western Australia.
WA's DPP said that if Ralph behaved himself and met all the costs, he might be able to arrange to get himself charged with a criminal offence over The AWU Scandal.
Seriously!
DPP Response - Blewitt by Michael Smith on Scribd