Tag: Williamson

We’re part of the union …

Williamson, who ran the HSU as his personal fiefdom from 1995 until 2011, pleaded guilty to several counts of defrauding the union of close to a $1 million and enlisting family and friends to cover up his crimes.

What Williamson has been jailed for was only the tip of the iceberg. He had been defrauding the union for almost two decades.

Michael Williamson, former federal president of the Australian Labor Party, has been sentenced to 7½ years in jail with a five-year non-parole period. Craig Thomson, former ALP member of parliament currently on bail pending an appeal against his conviction for dishonesty, was his protegé at the HSU. You can read more <HERE>.

I wonder if the Obeids will one day join him.

One down …

Michael Williamson has pleaded guilty to plundering the Health Services Union of getting on for a million dollars. The one time president of the Australian Labor Party and head of the Health Services Union was being paid $513,294 per year at the time. Jail looks likely.

Wouldn’t trust union officials as far as I could throw’em. You would have to wonder why the ALP recruits so heavily from that arena.

More charges …

2009-2010 National President for the Australian Labor Party, Unions NSW Vice President and Finance Committee Member, and member of the ACTU executive. The very epitome of a Labor man …

Former Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson has been charged with 28 more offences that include defrauding the organisation of $620,000 paid to his wife’s company for services never provided.

More charges are expected and more senior union staff will be charged in the coming weeks, police say.

The 59-year-old appeared briefly in a Sydney court on Wednesday charged with a total of 48 offences, following his arrest on October 4.

Court documents allege CANME Services, registered in Williamson’s wife’s name, received 47 cheques totalling $620,326 from 2001 and 2009 for work not performed.

He has also been charged with dealing in the proceeds of crime, or money laundering, in relation to $400,000 of that money.

NSW Fraud and Cybercrime Squad commander Colin Dyson said investigations by Strike Force Carnarvon are far from over.

‘These are the first charges of what I believe will be a series of charges in respect of allegations of fraud committed upon the Health Services Union,’ Detective Superintendent Dyson told reporters outside Waverley Local Court.

He said at least two other senior union staff members will be charged in coming weeks with fraud and hindering the police investigation.

Good to see Mr Williamson back in the news …

In July, the Temby report, an internal investigation into allegations of corruption within the union, found that nepotism and cronyism resulted in Mr Williamson, his family and friends reaping millions of dollars from the troubled HSU during his 15-year reign.

The report found that companies controlled by Mr Williamson and his family had received $5 million from the union over the past four years.

He was arrested this morning and charged with twenty offences. At first glance it seems they are mostly in relation to possible attempts to cover up his previous actions. Investigations are continuing. Will we see charges of embezzlement?