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The MPs under fire have limited ability to win preselection challenges because rank-and-file ballots were suspended following an Age and 60 Minutes investigation last year that exposed Mr Somyurek’s industrial-scale branch stacking operation and prompted an IBAC investigation.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich in October said the commission was examining the potential misappropriation of taxpayer-funded staff and gambling and multicultural affairs grants, including whether they were used for party-political activity and if they were provided to factional allies at the Australia Light Foundation, Cambodian Association of Victoria and the Somali Australian Council of Victoria.
The Multicultural Affairs Minister has ordered a review of grants awarded to a community group founded by Hussein Haraco (pictured), who has been accused of pocketing public funds. Credit:Chris Hopkins
The Age last year revealed $1 million in grants had been awarded to those community groups whose committees included members who Mr Somyurek claimed in secret recordings had stacked branches for him or who have links to his faction.
Mr Somyurek claimed a senior member of the Somali Australian Council of Victoria, Dr Hussein Haraco, and Hamdi Koyu, of the Australia Light Foundation, were central figures in his branch-stacking operation. Mr Koyu was also an electorate officer to Somyurek-aligned MP Kaushaliya Vaghela, while Mr Somyurek was recorded saying Dr Haraco “works” for him.
Dr Haraco, who signed dozens of fake Labor Party members to the Heidelberg ALP branch, was accused in IBAC hearings of pocketing almost $75,000 in 2019 from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Prevention Partnership Program, which Ms Kairouz was responsible for as Minister for Gaming.
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The community organisation also received $100,000 in taxpayer funds after it “double-counted” expenses, according to counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC.
Mr Carr told the commission Somali Australian Council of Victoria would, for instance, receive $2000 for a computer from both the council and the Victorian government, totalling $4000. It would then show the council and the government department identical invoices and ultimately pocket $2000. Dr Haraco was scheduled to appear at IBAC in October, and then November, but has been given a medical exemption to be examined publicly.
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