PROBE INTO POLICE UNION CAR SALE

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Serving Queensland police officer and union president Gary Wilkinson is under CMC investigation for allegedly selling a union car to his wife at a discount of several thousand dollars.

Mr Wilkinson, who was a person of interest to an inquiry probing a stolen-car racket in the late 1980s, has strenuously denied any wrongdoing in the latest corruption investigation. Crime and Misconduct Commission forensic accountants have identified concerns about one car sold to Mr Wilkinson's wife.

The late-model car was sold for several thousands of dollars less than the market price, it is alleged. A CMC spokeswoman yesterday confirmed an investigation involving the union was under way but refused to elaborate. It is understood union staff and those with links to the union have been questioned by the CMC. Rumours about Mr Wilkinson's tenure as president have circulated for some time, although he was recently made a life member and is supported by many members and staff. Mr Wilkinson has faced several legal obstacles over the years, although he has not been convicted of an offence.

In 1989, a Supreme Court jury found Mr Wilkinson not guilty of attempting to obtain a $5000 bribe from convicted criminal Keith Littlemore. Three years later, Mr Wilkinson provided lengthy testimony to the Commission of Inquiry into Operation Trident – an organised car-theft scam implicating police. Retired judge Bill Cater, appointed to the inquiry, found Mr Wilkinson had given false evidence and made "baseless" allegations against then assistant commissioner Graham Williams. However no charges were recommended against him.

In 1996, then sergeant Wilkinson said he had "undergone the most rigorous scrutiny and have been cleared". "When you cut through all the rubbish, at the end of the day, I am as clean as a whistle," he said. Recently speaking about allegations of police corruption, Mr Wilkinson said in June that there would always be instances of poor behaviour within the service, but there was not a decline in policing standards. He defended recent incidents involving police, saying discipline standards within the service were better than in the past. "You are always going to get people who make mistakes and do the wrong thing, and that's the purpose of the CMC and Ethical Standards (Command)," he said.