By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Property developer John Woodman paid off Casey councillor Geoff Ablett’s credit card debt and bought “75 per cent” of the councillor’s farm, an anti-corruption hearing was told.
Mr Woodman said he paid off the $15,000 debt during Cr Ablett’s preselection as a Liberal candidate for the seat of Cranbourne in early 2014, Mr Woodman confirmed during day 3 of the IBAC Operation Sandon hearing on 20 November.
Cr Ablett requested help due to being incapable of meeting his monthly credit card payments, Mr Woodman said.
The would-be state MP feared that his lack of “financial stability” would affect his candidacy.
Mr Woodman denied the payment was “corrupt” or “improper”.
He couldn’t recall why he made the payment in a “disguised” way – by depositing cash into Cr Ablett’s account using an unsigned deposit slip.
“I believed that I was assisting his candidacy in Cranbourne more than corruption, sir,” Mr Woodman said.
“I didn’t believe that I was attempting at any stage to secure his support in a council.”
In 2013 and 2014, Cr Ablett received two further $5000 cash deposits from Mr Woodman, who said they were also to clear credit card debt.
One included a deposit slip with Mr Woodman using a false name.
Mr Woodman agreed with Mr Tovey’s assertion that Cr Ablett afterwards continued to vote on Woodman-linked planning issues Brompton Lodge and Amendment C219 at council meetings despite the financial arrangement.
He later said Cr Ablett, who was mayor at the time, excused himself from a key Brompton Lodge vote in 2014.
Counsel assisting IBAC Michael Tovey asserted that Cr Ablett only declared conflicts of interest after a Victorian Ombudsman investigated the council in November 2014.
The investigation was unable to substantiate allegations given the Ombudsman’s “limited powers”, Commissioner Robert Redlich observed.
Mr Woodman had also bought a $15,000 share in a horse Prima Facie from Cr Ablett, and sponsored Cr Ablett’s Casey Radio show Equine Hour, he said.
In January 2015, Mr Woodman sent Cr Ablett a memo, which describes the councillor being paid monthly by Woodman’s company Watsons for “management of the family equine interests”.
Mr Woodman also told of buying “over 20 acres” of Cr Ablett’s farm, as part of a deal for Watsons realigning the road fronting the property.
“The account for the costs associated with those works was far in excess of what Mr Ablett indicated to me that he was able to pay,” Mr Woodman said.
“So we reached agreement that I would buy part of his property.”
Mr Woodman said he’d arranged to pay $350,000 for part of the land without seeking a council valuation of the land. The purchase also didn’t include any dwelling.
Cr Ablett had purchased the entire tract of land for $250,000, Mr Woodman said.
“At this stage we are still applying for planning permits for dwellings on the property which upon receiving will make a reasonable increase in the value of the property.”
