Organised crime boss George Alex boasted the CFMEU deemed his firms “untouchable” on building sites because union officials needed their “kickers”, according to police surveillance.
The covert police recordings, released by the NSW Supreme Court, offer a further glimpse into the sweeping building industry empire Alex built along Australia’s east coast in the decade after a 2015 royal commission outed him as a criminal figure who had bribed union officials to win CFMEU favours.The recordings from 2019 and 2020 also capture Alex’s criminal lieutenant complaining that a union agreement he secured for a tax-dodging firm did not come cheap.
Alex was previously found by a 2015 royal commission to have given regular kickbacks to senior union officials in return for their support of his firms, including those who not only ripped off the ATO, but also union members. In separate wiretaps, Bryers – who was also convicted for his role in Alex’s tax fraud scheme – is recorded talking to another accused conspirator in early 2020 about Sydney firm Eastside Formwork, which he claimed owed him “a tonne of money”, including for getting it a CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreement .
But Bryers also claimed he handled Stojic’s union issues: “I had to go in and save his arse with the unions and while he was away overseas, and he was bloody all over the place psychologically, to pay up … all of his entitlements for nine months to save his company,” he is recorded saying. Eastside and Stojic were not part of the George Alex tax fraud scheme. However, Bryers is recorded on wiretaps saying he wanted Eastside to be part of the broader Alex syndicate and to use the franchise structure that Bryers developed on Eastside to “legitimately” avoid paying taxes.
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George Alex’s boast: I’m untouchable because CFMEU ‘need money’Organised crime boss George Alex boasted the CFMEU deemed his firms “untouchable” on building sites because union officials needed their “kickers”, according to police surveillance.
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