CFMEU boss allegedly bragged of corrupt contract connections at $94b super fund

A high-ranking CFMEU official is alleged to have boasted to corrupt building firms that he could secure them lucrative contracts on major construction projects financed by superannuation giant Cbus because of his influence with insiders at the super fund.

Allegations of improper dealings between CFMEU NSW state secretary Darren Greenfield and Cbus are made by state and federal detectives working for Operation Brownsmith, a special police taskforce in NSW that investigated alleged union corruption between 2019 and 2022.

Cbus is the default super fund for the construction industry, managing $94 billion on behalf of more than 920,000 members. The CFMEU and other construction union-nominated directors sit on its board alongside employer representatives.

Separately, new evidence has emerged of “ghosting” on government sites in Victoria, with never-before-released excerpts of a covertly recorded discussion with a self-styled CFMEU fixer claiming he was working with firms getting paid for non-existent workers.

The recording, taken during an undercover sting earlier this year, captures fixer Harry Korras talking about how the union encourages subcontractors to invoice Victorian government projects for “ghost” shifts – shifts that are not filled despite workers being rostered.

Korras talks about how a scaffolding company was allegedly overwhelmed by the extra work it got after he helped get it a CFMEU agreement in return for money paid to the union.

“At the start, these boys were a bit worried. And then he rings me now and says, ‘Mate, we can’t keep up – the amount of work’,” he tells an undercover operative posing as a subcontractor seeking a CFMEU EBA.

“And the union, you know this, they push the work longer … [they say] ‘Leave it there … leave the boys there. Don’t worry about it’.

“And then they [the union] ring him and say, ‘Listen, go to this site as well, put four boys there. But only put two, but we invoice for four’ … You take one, we take one.”

Asked “so no one’s pretty much auditing anything?”, Korras points to how long the government’s Big Build projects take, ranging from three to 10 years.

Last year, the Victorian government was rocked by a labour hire company on the Big Build fraudulently invoicing taxpayers for ghost shifts, including one worker who supposedly did three shifts in 24 hours.

However, then-premier Daniel Andrews said at the time he believed the incident was “isolated”.

On previously aired extracts of a covert recording, Korras claims to an undercover operative who said he was a building firm owner that, in return for kickbacks paid to Victorian CFMEU officials, Korras can obtain union backing for firms and also place them on state government projects.

Korras has denied any wrongdoing. The CFMEU did not respond to requests for comment.

Cbus support under scrutiny

Separately, allegations that firms have been paying kickbacks for CFMEU support and placement on union-influenced construction sites – and that Cbus might have aided the practice – have been made in NSW as part of a covert investigation targeting Greenfield and which led to him being charged with corruption offences in September 2021. His son, Michael Greenfield, the NSW CFMEU’s assistant secretary, was also charged.

Both cases remain before the courts and are yet to be tested by a jury. There is no suggestion of their guilt.

According to official documents sighted by this masthead, NSW investigators allege Greenfield senior told a building company owner he would exert his influence over Cbus in 2019 to ensure the super giant instructed the lead contractor to use subcontractors favoured by the CFMEU.

One project Greenfield allegedly claimed he could influence via his Cbus ties was the union giant’s development project in Epping, NSW.

The Langston development was finished in 2022 and involved a mixed-use precinct comprising three apartment towers and retail space. Cbus Property, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cbus, financed the $500 million development.

While the lead contractor was large commercial building company Hutchinson, Operation Brownsmith officers allege Greenfield repeatedly claimed he would leverage his relationship with Cbus connections, whom he was meeting regularly, to control which subcontractors secured work on the project.

In return for influencing the awarding of work, the union boss allegedly sought kickbacks. Greenfield also allegedly claimed that unnamed Cbus employees sought his direct input into which subcontractors should win work.

Around 12 per cent of Cbus’ default MySuper option is invested in property, of which around 85 per cent is unlisted.

A spokesman for Cbus Property said it was “unable to and will not comment on matters before the courts”.

“Cbus Property undertakes a detailed process on each development site to appoint an independent contractor to manage its construction projects. The independent contractor enters into agreements with all subcontractors and suppliers. Subcontractors on all sites are appointed by the contractor, not Cbus Property.”

While many leaders in the union movement anticipated Greenfield would step aside as the CFMEU’s NSW secretary when he was charged with serious corruption offences, he refused to do so and still wields considerable industrial power in the state.

In a development unrelated to the police inquiry, this masthead can reveal CFMEU officials pushed for the appointment of Simon Gutierrez, a convicted drug dealer, as union delegate on a different Cbus and Scentre Group joint venture development.

Gutierrez was also recently appointed to the NSW Branch’s powerful committee of management.

In his position as the delegate on the redevelopment of the former David Jones in the Sydney CBD Gutierrez can influence which sub-contractors are hired on the project.

There is no suggestion that Gutierrez has taken any kickbacks or is involved in the Greenfields’ alleged bribery.

Among Greenfield’s key supporters are Cbus director Rita Mallia, a senior CFMEU NSW official. Greenfield has insisted he has done nothing criminal and said last week that because the matter was before court, he couldn’t comment on the police allegations.

The CFMEU and Mallia did not respond to requests for comment about Greenfield’s allegedly improper use of Cbus.

On Sunday, it emerged that Mallia and Greenfield had signed a letter to NSW Premier Chris Minns on Friday attacking him for backing a major clean-up of the CFMEU in response to revelations by this masthead and 60 Minutes that the union had been infiltrated by organised crime and was allegedly involved in serious corruption.

In the letter signed by Greenfield and Cbus board member Mallia, the CFMEU threatened to release the names of MPs, ministers and public servants who Greenfield met with prior to the last state election. This masthead is not suggesting that Mallia is involved in the conduct alleged against Greenfield, including that involving Cbus.

It comes as Victoria’s shadow cabinet on Monday ticked off on a private member’s bill which would effectively ban construction companies whose employees have links to organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs from winning lucrative government contracts

The private member’s bill, which will be sponsored by opposition major projects spokesman David Southwick, would force construction giants bidding for work to guarantee its employees, including subcontractors, didn’t have a history of organised crime and that workers didn’t consort with organised crime figures.

Employees with pending criminal charges of organised crime offences would also be excluded from working on major government projects in a move the opposition says mirrors similar reforms in other jurisdictions.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said bikies and organised criminals have no place on taxpayer-funded construction sites and the new laws will keep them out for good.

“For a decade, Labor has turned a blind eye to worsening misconduct and organised criminal infiltration of major projects for which every Victorian is paying the price,” Pesutto said.

The Coalition’s bill lists more than two dozen “entities” caught up in the ban, including outlaw motorcycle gangs the Comanchero, Hells Angels, Mongols, Finks, Bandidos and Rebels.

As part of the crackdown, the bill will also allow parties involved in the contracting of projects to request criminal history and association information from the chief commissioner of police.

On Monday, Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari the said CFMEU had notified him it would be “voluntarily suspending” its membership immediately.

“Other interstate Trades and Labour [sic] Councils are receiving the same notification,” he told members in an email.

With Annika Smethurst and Kieran Rooney

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