Australand - WA Corruption and Crimes Commission

Evidence given before the WA Corruption and Crime Commision:
DEVELOPER AUSTRALAND ADMITS SECRET PAYMENTS TO HELP WIN GOVERNMENT APPROVAL

The Australian Financial Review (19 and 20 February 2007) reports on evidence given before the WA Corruption and Crime Commision. Property Developer Australand's senior executive in Perth, Chris Lewis admitted he put together a deal for Australand to secretly bankroll the election campaign of a Perth mayor, Mr Stephen Lee. Mr Lee was an open supporter of the contraversial Port Coogee $900 million Australand residential development project south of Perth. Via a front company, Australand secretly payed $43,000 to the election campaign of Mr Lee. A taped phone call reveals Mr Lewis saying "I just don't know whether I should be speaking on the phone" to which the person he was speaking to replied "Oh I see, yeah alright well mate. No, its probably a better idea not to speak on the phone". The person he was speaking to was disgraced former West Australian premier Brian Burke.

It seems the millions of dollars of donations to political parties that are reported according to the law are only the tip of the iceberg.