Aussie wrote on Jan 28
th, 2014 at 4:43pm:
Craig Thomson fraud trial: Prostitutes' witness statements reveal union official was 'regular client'
Updated 23 minutes ago
Craig Thomson arrives at the Melbourne Magistrate Court
PHOTO: Craig Thomson has pleaded not guilty to 145 charges. (AAP: David Crosling)
RELATED STORY: Craig Thomson trial: HSU whistleblower Kathy Jackson says union 'like a cult'
MAP: Melbourne 3000
A number of prostitutes have revealed former Labor MP Craig Thomson was a "regular client" who always had a glass of champagne waiting for them.
In witness statements tended to the Melbourne Magistrates Court this evening, the escorts describe being shocked when the charges against Thomson made national headlines.
One prostitute who used the name Misty says she met the then-national secretary of the Health Services Union (HSU) on at least six occasions and provided sexual services.
"I have seen him on TV and in the media deny that he used the services of prostitutes," she said in her statement.
"He is lying and I am in no doubt that the Craig I performed a number of sexual services for over a period of time is Craig Thomson the politician."
She said she noticed he did not wear a wedding ring.
Her statement recalls how Thomson would always have a glass of champagne ready and often paid to extend her services, sometimes just to chat.
The court earlier heard there was a matrix of evidence that showed it was Thomson and no-one else who misused union credit cards.
Thomson faces 145 criminal charges of obtaining financial advantage and property by deception.
The charges relate to Thomson's alleged spending of HSU funds on brothels, escorts, pornography and other personal expenses while he was national secretary between 2002 and 2007.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In closing arguments, prosecutors told the court that masses of evidence, including receipts phone records and bank statements, show that Thomson used HSU credit cards to spend thousands of dollars on escorts, brothels and pornography.
Using a specific event in Sydney in May 2005, prosecutors say records show Thomson checking into the Westin Hotel where phone calls were made from his room to an escort agency.
The court heard that $770 was charged to the union credit card later that night.
Authority to make payments in spotlight
Thomson's lawyers have said they will not be attacking the witness statements of numerous brothel owners and sex workers.
They told the court they will instead focus on whether Thomson had the legal right to authorise the payments in the first place.
The court has previously heard Thomson had discretion to authorise union expenditure of up to $50,000 without running it past the union's national executive.
Several union witnesses, including the former auditor, have also told the court they believed there were no concrete written rules stipulating what union funds could be spent on.
No rules on spending policy
But in summing up the case, prosecutor Lesley Taylor told the court it was "self-evidently absurd" that a written policy was necessary for "intelligent, experienced union officials, particularly for Craig Thomson" as a former lawyer, to be aware that he could not use his union funded credit cards for whatever he liked.
She said if Thomson "honestly believed there was some loophole somewhere," he would not have had to "partake in subterfuge" to mask his transactions.
Documents released by the court last week show Thomson's credit card statements were at odds with some explanations he gave to the union.
On one occasion, his card showed funds had been spent at a Sydney brothel and Thomson had claimed the expense as meetings at the union's national office.
Ms Taylor told the court Thomson had also made admissions in a voluntary interview to Fair Work Australia that there was no legitimate reason for his spending of union funds on escort services and expenses for his then-wife.
She also accused Thomson of telling lies to the
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