Corrupt ex-CFMEU officials jailed for bribe ‘betrayal’
Miklos Bolza and Adelaide Lang |
The CFMEU says it is rebuilding after two of its former officials received jail sentences over corruptly taking thousands of dollars in bribes.
Darren Greenfield, 60, and his son Michael, 40, were escorted behind bars on Friday after accepting wads of cash, in some cases literally under the table, from a building company for preferential union treatment and access to contracts.
Judge Leonie Flannery labelled the breach of trust of both senior union officials “egregious” during a sentence at Sydney’s Central District Court.
“The offenders used the influence of the union for their own personal benefit rather than for the benefit of its members,” she said.
Darren Greenfield was the union’s NSW branch secretary when he accepted bribes over more than a year and a half from 2018 to 2020.
His son was the branch’s assistant state secretary and took bribes twice in 2019.
CFMEU NSW executive director Michael Crosby welcomed the judge’s decision.
“Darren and Michael Greenfield have betrayed the members of our union in the most fundamental way possible,” he said in a statement.
“Any suggestion this was a victimless crime that didn’t hurt members is completely false.
“It was an egregious breach of trust that shattered the important compact between union members and their leaders.”
Judge Flannery accepted that the elder Greenfield did not seek the bribes, but rather they came to him and he accepted the payments in a moment of weakness.
Father and son were also remorseful for their actions and had no prospects of reoffending, she noted.
However, the judge said the pair’s sentence should be strong enough to deter others from the same misconduct.
“Such offences undermine public confidence and the integrity of employee organisations and the people who run them,” she told the court.
That the amounts received were modest was not relevant, the judge noted.
“It is the fact of the bribe and not the amount which is important here.”
Father and son sat silently, hands in their laps, listening to the judge, while CFMEU members including Mr Crosby filled the court’s public gallery.
They were sentenced to a combined maximum total of four years in prison.
Darren Greenfield took four bribes from the owner of a building company totalling $20,000 between November 2018 and June 2020.
His son, a former rugby league player, accepted two payments which amounted to $10,000 over two-and-a-half months in 2019.
Michael Greenfield also tried to avoid a penalty for running a red light by signing a false statutory declaration which pinned the blame on an illegal Taiwanese worker.
The CMFEU was placed into administration in 2024 after allegations of corruption and links to organised crime.
Darren Greenfield was terminated on the same day, several weeks after Michael resigned amid media scrutiny.
The elder Greenfield was sentenced to up to 30 months but will be released after 10 months.
His son was hit with a maximum sentence of 18 months but will be released in six.
Both had pleaded guilty in April to the offences. They will be required to pay $500 and remain on good behaviour while serving the remainder of their sentence in the community.
The person who bribed the elder Greenfield told police he handed over the wads of cash because the CMFEU state secretary “helped us do things”, the court was previously told.
The man, who cannot be named, was in 2022 sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, to be served in the community.
An inquiry into the CFMEU and misconduct in Queensland’s construction industry was told on Thursday that the union’s deregistration would be bad for members, the industry and the state.
Mark Irving KC, representing the administrator, said effectively outlawing the CFMEU would leave a void that would be filled by more unscrupulous operators “if other states are any indication”.
AAP
