Federal Police officers attached to the Trade Union Royal Commission allegedly colluded with a peak builders' group as they wrongfully locked-up a trade union official in Canberra last year, according to a case filed in the ACT Supreme Court.
Among the explosive claims against the AFP officers attached to the Trade Union Royal Commission is that they supplied the Canberra branch of the Master Builders Association details of the charges against CFMEU official Johnny Lomax, while he was in custody and long before the former rugby league great or his lawyers saw them.
Three federal police officers are accused in the civil case of bringing a trumped-up charge, which they knew had no chance of a conviction, against Mr Lomax on July 24, 2015 in an effort to pressure the union official into giving evidence against his CFMEU colleagues.
After the case collapsed in October 2015, the senior arresting officer is alleged to have fronted a meeting of the ACT branch of the Master Builders Association and telling it his pursuit of the CFMEU was "personal".
The AFP is now facing a compensation claim over alleged conduct of officers from its TURC taskforce, which has just been re-funded by the Turnbull government to the tune of $21 million, and their arrest of Mr Lomax in July 2015 for blackmail, with the union official seeking to recover his legal costs and claiming unspecified damages.
Police accused the former Canberra Raiders great of blackmail by attempting to force a local painting company into signing a union enterprise bargaining agreement, but Mr Lomax's lawyers allege the three officers were fully aware when they arrested the union official there was no evidence to support the charge.
The case against Mr Lomax collapsed in October 2015 after the ACT Supreme Court found the taskforce acted unlawfully in its raid on the the union's ACT branch in August of that year.
It is also alleged police taskforce tipped off the media to be waiting for Mr Lomax as he left the Canberra watchhouse on the day of his arrest in an effort to heighten the "reputational damage" to the CFMEU official and his employer.
The three police officers, a sergeant and two constables and their employer are accused of wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution of Mr Lomax.
Mr Lomax's lawyers Slater and Gordon allege the arrest and abortive prosecution were motivated in part by "personal animus" towards the CFMEU and a belief that Mr Lomax could be successfully pressured to give evidence against his colleagues.
"You know what's going on, you're not as bad as the others," the officers are alleged to have said to Mr Lomax as they held him in Canberra's Civic watch house.
"C'mon, you know."
It is also alleged that the "statement of facts" compiled by the officers was supplied to Master Builders Association executive John Nikolic while Mr Lomax was in custody and had not yet been given details of the charges against him.
The court documents do not allege any improper conduct by the MBA or any of its staff.
Association spokesman Kirk Coningham confirmed that one of the arresting officers had briefed his members on TURC matters but said the officer was "always very professional in my dealing with him."
Slater and Gordon say they did not get a copy of the document until three days after their client's arrest and release.
The case was filed in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday and the AFP has not filed a defence.
The force's media unit said on Thursday that the Commonwealth had only been notified of the proceedings that day and would not comment on matters before the court.
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