Somyurek final day at corruption inquiry
Former Victorian government minister Adem Somyurek will give evidence to an anti-corruption inquiry for a fourth and final day on Friday.
Mr Somyurek quit the Labor Party last year before he was expelled following a Nine Network investigation, which caught him using his own cash to pay for other people's Labor Party memberships and enlisting the help of taxpayer-funded staff.
The practice, known as branch stacking, was carried out to boost his moderate faction's influence and ensure preferred candidates were preselected. It is not illegal but it is against Labor party rules.
An Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission inquiry is investigating whether taxpayer funds was used for such work.
The inquiry on Thursday heard tapped phone calls between Mr Somyurek and his factional allies, MPs Marlene Kairouz and Robin Scott, once they caught wind of the expose, which aired in June 2020.
"Branch stacking ... is not against the law. That's not corruption. But it could be about someone else," Ms Kairouz said.
The duo goes on to mention "forms" and "different signatures".
"You can change your signature every week," Ms Kairouz said.
Counsel assisting the inquiry Chris Carr SC said the conversation proved it was "common knowledge" forgery of membership forms was taking place as part of their branch stacking operation, a claim Mr Somyurek denied.
The day the expose was published, Mr Somyurek called Mr Scott to discuss what excuses he could use for him not having met a staff member he had hired as a favour to City of Dandenong councillor Loi Truong, another factional ally.
"You're busy, you're a minister," Mr Scott suggested.
Earlier this week, Mr Somyurek described a factional war within Moderate Labor and said branch-stacking was embedded in the party.
"It was so deeply embedded in the culture that it would be hard for people outside of the system to understand how embedded it is," the powerbroker said.
He also named Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews several times during evidence on Monday, accusing him of dismissing concerns over Labor's red shirts scandal.
Red shirts was a $388,000 scheme involving the misuse of parliamentary allowances to pay Labor's political campaign staff ahead of the 2014 election.
Ms Kairouz and Mr Scott, who remain on Labor's back bench, deny wrongdoing.
