I am sure all this crap about credit cards will fill the papers for a few days. However, since there were no rules re use of credit cards this is all irrelevant. No evidence has been found he used prostitutes so I would be careful what you write about Thommo and prostitutes.
The one who really ripped of the HSU—the woman who monkeyman said was a brave whistleblower: Kathy Jackson. Fortunately, Kathy is now being investigated.
This is not so much a prosecution as a continuing attempt to blacken Thomson’s name. E.g.:
. . .the whole appearance on the stand by jet-setting former brothel owner, Peter Lazaris, whose entire testimony lasted no more than five minutes and, as both Greg James and the magistrate pointed out, could have been covered by simply reading an entry on one of the credit card statements.
Mr Lazaris, who was not summoned to appear by either the prosecution or the defence, apparently volunteered of his own volition and out of the goodness of his heart, to fly from Sydney to Melbourne to appear at the hearing yesterday.
Before Mr Lazaris was called by the prosecution, Greg James, QC, appearing for Craig Thomson, objected, telling the court that
Quote:“… calling this witness serves an obvious purpose.”
It soon became very clear what purpose Mr James meant.
Mr Lazaris’ sum contribution consisted of confirming he once owned the A Touch of Class brothel; that it used an alias identity – ‘Staff Call’ – when it billed credit cards; that it destroyed all its photographic and accounting records after six years; and that he’d instructed his madams to obtain ID when processing credit card transactions — hardly the sort of material this writer would consider worthy of a Murdoch broadsheet using in its hysterical headline and 17 paragraphs of titillating testimony.
After lunch, the second row of seats in courtroom #22 were somewhat emptier than before this witness’ brief appearance; the vultures had been fed. . . .
Yesterday’s first witness, Dr Rosemary Kelly, presently the Executive Officer and Secretary HSU Branch #4, and the HSU Vice President, who served on the HSU’s Financial Services Committee from about February of 2002, was on the stand far longer. Dr Kelly admitted that minutes of meetings were not always kept, however she did recall that certain financial records had, at some point, gone missing. Dr Kelly also stated that she did not know that Craig Thomson held a credit card. Nor did Dr Kelly seem aware of any ‘disagreements’ between various branches of the HSU, though she did state emphatically several times that she was not aligned to any faction.
The reader may make of the above what they will.
Curiously, Dr Kelly also conceded that she was aware of Kathy Jackson former husband Jeff Jackson’s misuse of HSU funds before Craig Thomson assumed the position of National Secretary, but “did not recall” that Craig Thomson set up an audit committee following those events — just as Dr Kelly did not recall making any detailed inquiries herself of financial irregularities in the HSU or the use of credit cards in the National Office, outside of the committees, with the exception of sending emails at various times.
Plenty of info on Kathy Jackson on Independent Australia.
It was reported on Monday night by Umberto Ledfooti on Independent Australia the defence has finally acknowledged in court what I have been stating for what feels like an eternity, that the movies charged to Thomson’s hotel room;
“… may not have been pornographic.”
Going even further the prosecution then stated that these movies;
“… could have been The Sound Of Music.”
Remember, this is the prosecution stating this — not the defence.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/craig-thomson-trial-day-two--reversal,5952
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