Alleged hitman was handpicked as CFMEU health and safety man on building projects

A CFMEU delegate accused of involvement in a brazen underworld execution was parachuted into his lucrative union health and safety role four months after he allegedly gunned down a gangland figure in a suburban car park.

Muhammed Sayan was working as a union health and safety representative until a fortnight ago, when armed police arrested him over his alleged role in the shooting of gangland boss Robert Issa in October 2023.

Multiple sources, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the information, confirmed that Sayan was not elected by his fellow workers, as required by law, but parachuted into his CFMEU position after a request to the union.

That February 2024 request came from a company part-owned by members of a Middle Eastern crime gang suspected by police to be linked to Issa’s death only months earlier.

Sayan was arrested a fortnight ago and accused of being part of a five-man hit squad that killed Issa in a Craigieburn shopping centre car park.

The details of how Sayan got his union role to maintain site health and safety — and kept it after the union was plunged into administration — come amid separate revelations about how union bosses and ex-bikies culled from the CFMEU have re-emerged as industry fixers or subcontractors to the Allan government’s Big Build projects.

They include allegedly corrupt ex-CFMEU assistant secretary Derek Christopher, who has hung up his shingle as an industry “mediator” through his newly founded firm, Atlas Consulting; ex-union delegate and former Mongols outlaw bikie boss Tyrone Bell, who is now also an industrial relations fixer via a company called Dynamis Health and Safety Relations; and Rebels bikie figure and sacked Big Build CFMEU health and safety representative Joel Leavitt, who is launching a labour-hire company.

Gangland figure Mick Gatto is also still attempting to engage in deal-making with senior union officials.

Just days ago, Gatto chaired a meeting between the CFMEU and subcontractors on the Big Build – despite the CFMEU administration declaring Gatto persona non grata in March.

The meeting involved two high-ranking union officials, Gatto and the man who had engaged the gangland figure, Tony Ciccone, who runs Cycon Civil, a subcontractor on many of Labor’s biggest infrastructure projects.

It was called after the CFMEU made inquiries about Cycon Civil’s dealings with an Indigenous labour-hire firm, multiple sources said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the union’s administrator, Mark Irving, SC, lashed out at the use of industry fixers, saying the “administration of the CFMEU believes that there needs to be a fundamental change in the role of ‘industrial fixers’ and ‘industrial mediators’ in the construction industry”.

“Many of these so called ‘fixers’ are enforcers or use the tactics of extortion and intimidation,” he said.

“These tactics must be stamped out. The administration is determined to ensure the union is not subject to employers’ improper use of fixers as has occurred in the past.”

Tony Ciccone declined to respond to specific questions about why Gatto had attended his meeting with the CFMEU or whether his company was facing questions about its dealings with Indigenous workers.

But he said in a text message that accusations of wrongdoing by his company were “incorrect” and “junk mail”.

Gatto, a fixture of Melbourne’s underworld scene who beat a murder charge during the gangland wars, has previously denied all wrongdoing but did not respond to a request for comment.

In March, the federal police raided a Melbourne accountant seeking evidence of payments made by construction firms to Gatto or other gangland figures to obtain union peace.

The revelations raise fresh questions for the Allan and Albanese governments about the effectiveness of their construction sector clean-up, as well as their response to Irving’s calls in July for “state and federal governments to focus on crime and corruption across the industry” because there is “much, much more to be done”.

Corporate records reveal Derek Christopher started Atlas Consulting and Mediation in late May, nine months after he was sacked from the union after this masthead revealed the influx of bikies and gangland bosses into the industry.

Christopher also remains the target of a long-running police investigation into suspicions he may have received corrupt benefits from building companies in the form of free renovations.

He has not been charged and there is no suggestion he is guilty of any crime, a finding that can only be made by a court, just that he is a target of a long-standing police probe.

Multiple industry and union sources said Christopher was seeking to leverage his union and industry connections to help construction firms win work on large Victorian projects.

In a statement, Christopher said his business “does not partake in industrial relations” but rather “specialises in business growth development, strategic growth of future technologies, social media platforms” and mentoring.

“I have a right as an Australian to get on and provide for my family,” he said.

Sacked CFMEU delegate and ex-Mongols bikie chief Tyrone Bell has, like Christopher, offered construction industry firms advice on how to navigate Victoria’s construction sector and union while it is under administration.

Multiple industry sources said Bell had been dealing with former CFMEU organiser Jaxson Mahy, although there is no suggestion this has been successful.

Bell’s key client is building firm Markscon.

Construction industry and CFMEU insiders have also confirmed that Joel Leavitt – a notorious bikie standover man and former CFMEU health and safety representative on Labor’s Big Build projects – has launched a labour-hire business and has been operating in an industrial estate near the airport.

The labour-hire firm would seek work on infrastructure and construction projects across Victoria, sources said.

Meanwhile, ex-union vice president Joe Myles, who is also accused of bringing bikies into union positions and onto Labor’s Big Build, has launched Myles Ahead Advisory.

Myles continues to enjoy the loyalty of a small number of serving delegates and organisers, although this masthead could not confirm whether his new business had won work.

The resurfacing of supposedly exiled union operatives poses a major challenge for Irving and Victorian union boss Zach Smith in reforming the union amid resistance from powerful internal factions loyal to ex-union leaders.

Irving’s purge of union figures with links to the gangland is also incomplete.

This masthead has identified three still-serving CFMEU delegates who have used their influence on Big Build jobs in Geelong and Melbourne, including the Suburban Rail Loop, to bring in members of the Finks and Hells Angels.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.