Thread by @PoliBard

So it's #IBACday! Again.... Time for another serve of #OpWatts. Returning to the stand for another round is Rick Garotti.

I'm going to be using more abbreviations to try and get more content in each tweet, as it will work better with drawn out sections of questioning. See below.

CR - Comm. Redlich
CA - Counsel Assisting
W - Witness
AS - Adem Somyurek
MK - Marlene Kairouz
RS - Robin Scott
NE - Nazih Elasmar
KV - Kaushaliya Vaghela
HH - Hussein Haraco
SACOV - Somali Australian Council of Victoria
BMR - Bracks/Macklin Report
CCB - Corrupt, Cheating Bastards

And we're up!!! Good morning Mr Garotti!
CR reminds him he's still under oath, asks if there is anything he wants to challenge or correct from yesterday, that's a no, and it's straight over to CA for the first question of the day.
#OpWatts

*Page 1035 shown to W.*
CA refers to W lobbying on behalf of SACOV.
W agrees he's recapping details with AS.
CA asking about the Himalo? project.
W states it's about lobbying for funds for African communities.
Something about SACOV funding
#OpWatts

Oooo, "it would be undesirable for SACOV if funding went to their rival" AS & W declare that funding must go to SACOV.
CR intervenes to push W to agree that AS & W decided to intervene to ensure funding went to SACOV, and that's the desire of Banyule City Council? WOW
#OpWatts

So the "rival" is e-focus? associated with Macklin? Seems rather grubby.
CA pushes that W is not naive, and he was absolutely pushing to change a funding outcome. W agrees.
W admits to lying about council desire to give AS a talking point for RS.
#OpWatts

CR wants to know why W lied about the council wanting the funding going to SACOV.
W states to add credibility to the proposal he was putting.
CA asks why so important that SACOV gets the money?
W believed SACOV could do a better job than e-focus.
#OpWatts

CA - that's the only reason, no factional currency at play?
W - that's fair
CA - Wouldn't it be the primary reason?
W - I wouldn't go that far.
CA - Why didn't you offer this reason before?
(They are going to roast him today)
W - blather, blather, blather
#OpWatts

CR now wants to know who initiated the advocacy for SACOV funding. Witness says it came from HH and a SACOV person.
CR asks why, witness responds that HH thought he had influence in govt.
CR "why would you do that?"
W - HH had seen me exercise influence before.
#OpWatts

CR asks if it was quid pro quo, for the factional work HH had done for the party.
W disagrees, but says it sure looks like that 😂
CA asks if W had a lobbying role on behalf of factional allies. W agrees.
CA wants a list.
W - I can't.....
CR interrupts now. Not happy.
#OpWatts

CR laying down the point of having the hearings in the first place, and wants to know who else got lobbied.
W blathers again, can't recall specifically. He couldn't recall what he's been asked about today until prompted.
LOL, CA says W can "think about it" at the break
#OpWatts

Now Mohamed El Rufi? gets a mention, advisor in Robin Scott's office. And witness asked to confirm he pushed AS to chase up via Mohamed with Robin Scott regarding SACOV funding, and he does.
W also admits to declaring this was a favour to a factional ally.
#OpWatts

CR remarks that this info opens up a whole range of questions by itself. He's back to pushing that quid pro quo WAS in play, and the witness agrees now.
CA asking if Mohamed was a factional ally, and was how he got appointed to RS's office. Witness can't confirm.
#OpWatts

*Now looking at a discussion between AS & W regarding a convo had with Mohamed*
"Mohamed's going to give you the inside word on when a particular grant is available"
CA - You've already discussed with HH re putting in a funding application. Witness agrees.
#OpWatts

Seems that Mohamed was feeding info about grant allocation amounts so that SACOV had advance knowledge of how much to apply for, and Mohamed was going to assist SACOV to secure it. Witness agrees to all of this.
#OpWatts

CA puts it that Mohamed is going to manipulate the process to direct Himalo? funding to benefit HH and SACOV. Witness agrees.
CA puts it Mohamed was looking to changing the grant structure so that it won't go to e-focus. Witness agrees.
#OpWatts

CA - In summary, we have a ministerial advisor subverting process to achieve outcomes favourable to a faction. Witness agrees.
CA - Mohamed is ensuring that things will follow the path you and AS were desiring. W - yes....
CR now asks how the RS couldn't be involved here
#OpWatts

W blathers again, admits he doesn't recall any of th econversation at the time.
CR wants to know what Mohamed said regarding approval or otherwise that came directly from RS. Witness can't assist.
Ooooo, now we're dragging councils into it.
#OpWatts

Seems there was an intent to push these grants out via councils, so that funding allocations could be distributed via them. How very convenient. IBAC is completely playing this guy...And he's nowhere near smart enough to play back.....
#OpWatts

CA now punches right on the nose "If it went to council, you'd have a strong position to influence where funding went?"
W tries to sidetrack, but CA interrupts, gets him back to the question. W admits that's true.
So much CCB.....
#OpWatts

Now we're discussing an email between W and HH
MK gets dragged in to the picture. There seems to be a lot of effort being made to secure grants for SACOV, and I'm sure HH is gunna get grilled hard about that in the next 2 days.
#OpWatts

Nick is Nick McLennan who has been mentioned several times before. Witness says that regardless of whether the money was used appropriately or not, this was indeed factional patronage.
CA wants to know why W would even bring up SACOV using funds appropriately. #FreeKick
#OpWatts

LOL, oh lordy. CA - Let's looks at precisely what SACOV used that funding for. It's #ReceiptsTime again.
CA now outlining the conditions of the grant, had to keep accurate financial records. Grant was $100k, and was provided. CR asks W if he knew it got approved.
#OpWatts

W agrees he knew it was approved, but not aware of timing or amount.
*page 166 being referred to*
Some kind of responsible gambling grant, it seems?
CA draws attention to the condition of "all receipts and payments must be recorded."
CA asks if he's surprised by this
#OpWatts

Witness agrees that's to be expected. And here comes the bomb: Those records have been produced to IBAC by HH.
CA is now going through the list of expenditure.
Wages and salary being focused on.
$51k of salary
$6k admin
$7k videos
$4.2k training
#OpWatts

The videos were Somali specific, intended to address problem gambling in the community, so that clears that up.
And now we're looking at the videos invoice, provided by HH.
From Mad Dale? productions? With account details provided on the invoice.
#OpWatts

And CA drops an even bigger bomb: Are you surprised that these $7k of funds went to HH?
Witness claims to be shocked.
It's CCB city this morning......
Now we're onto the training receipts.
And guess who received that $4.2k? Hussein Haraco.
W - shocked.......
#OpWatts

LOL, oh stop it CA😂😂😂😂😂😂
"Wanna have a guess at who all those salary payments went to?"
CA now asks directly if HH ever told W about receiving benefits from SACOV funding in any way.
Witness says he was told HH never benefitted, he volunteered, put his own $ in.
#OpWatts

CA puts it that HH received significant salaries, via grants, as payment for factional activities.
Witness is still shocked.
CA now adds, after prompting from CR, that HH has received the bulk of the money from this grant, and has received money from other grants.
#OpWatts

Now CA burns W with earlier statements about having concerns that SACOV would administer grants with more integrity than e-focus. It's kitty vs alfoil ball time.
CA - "On what basis could you put any store in HH's integrity?"
Tomorrow's hearings are gunna be 🔥🔥🔥🔥
#OpWatts

W is in a terrible place right now. He's either realising just how dirty his mate HH was, or he's realising they are all going to jail. He does seem genuinely taken aback at least at the scale of the grant rorting, although I bet he had his suspicions some was going on.
#OpWatts

CA and CR are rehashing the relationship between HH and W now. They seem keen to know how much W knew about SACOV activities.
W claims he had no knowledge HH was profiting in any way from SACOV, and in fact believed HH was putting in funds of his own.
#OpWatts

Witness claimed earlier that SACOV was an independent activity unrelated to branch stacking, but now CA puts it that SACOV was a recruiting ground for HH, which seems incredibly reasonable.
CA wants to know if W ever asked HH "where are all the members coming from?"
#OpWatts

LOL, "Tribes,I guess"
(Garotti is seriously floundering, someone throw him a life jacket. CA can barely hide his contempt for this witness now, and even CR is about to get cranky I reckon.)
CR now wants numbers of "non genuine members" recruited by HH
W - ~300 in 10 yrs
#OpWatts

W equivocates that some non genuine members became active members, estimates that 1/3 were completely non genuine for their whole time.
CR asks about membership funding.
(I think we're going to end up at "SACOV grants funded Labor memberships" by the end of this week.)
#OpWatts

Witness is estimating that the fees paid by HH would have been several thousand $ per year to cover memberships.
"HH was not a man without means" - Yeah, and a dodgy grant farming scheme was one of those means 😂😂😂
CCB....So much CCB.......
#OpWatts

And we're going to a break now, but before we do, CA reminds Garotti that he asked him to think about other groups he might have lobbied for.

I think it's safe to assume there are more receipts inbound....And with that, we're on a break. See you back in about 15 mins!
#OpWatts

And were back!!!!! CR is apologising for the delay, "COVID issues in the background" apparently. Interesting.
CA reminds the witness he was going to have a think about lobbying activities he'd been involved in. He was involved in a lot of lobbying in the North
#OpWatts

Witness lobbied extensively, but can't recall another specific community group, but happy to confront any receipts CA might have.
CA now pushing the "pattern of conduct" line again. Factional allies seeking government employment as reward for factional alignment.
#OpWatts

Oooooo, Banyule council gave SACOV large grants regularly. CA reminds witness he admitted to receiving conflict of interest training, and CA asks if he recused himself from any grant discussions.
W says these grants were handled independently.

#OpWatts

CA asks if council was aware of his relationship with SACOV. And CR is asking if councillors were involved in grant allocations, witness says it came from budget, and operations. Witness says SACOV grants from council covered 7-8 years. Doesn't know the amounts.
#OpWatts

Witness estimates maybe $50k per year. CR asks if Witness ever felt the need to declare his SACOV conflict, but witness is pushing that it was done at arms length, and he didn't feel the need to notify anybody.
CR asks what criteria council officers used on grants.
#OpWatts

Witness says it was at discretion of officers following guidelines, and budget.
CR wants to know if witness exercised any influence at all on decisions regarding grants.
CR specifically asking about communications to officers.
Witness dodging hard.
#OpWatts

LOL, here it comes "Look I might have made a suggestion to maybe have a look at SACOV" followed by further waffle.
(CA is going to fry this guy over this)
CA puts it that Witness came onto council, pushed towards SACOV for grants, and they were recurring?
Witness agrees
#OpWatts

CA now brings up grant amounts. Last year, witness estimated(presumably in comms evidence IBAC has) $80-90k, but today quoted ~$50-60k, and CA is pushing that the witness is not being frank in his evidence.
(That's a pretty damn fair summary of this witness, IMHO)
#OpWatts

Now we're bringing up the 60 mins story that blew all this up. CA asks if there was a high degree of anxiety within the faction in the lead up to that program airing. Very damn good question.
Witness agrees & goes fishing for what texts/emails they might have about it 😂
#OpWatts

CA - who did you discuss these concerns with?
W - No doubt with AS, not sure of others
CA - were you tasked with anything?
W - Not that i recall
CA - do you recall a desperate scramble to have members not answer journalists, or answer in a specific way.
W - Yes.
#OpWatts

CA - this wasn't a reach out for member welfare, was it?
W - Well there was an element of that, due to non genuine members getting media attention.
CA - are you suggesting you and AS were seriously concerned about member welfare?
W - goes fishing again for evidence.
#OpWatts

Witness now declares his 2nd child was born 5 days before 60 mins program, so it was a frantic time, which is fair. Assuming it's true......🤭(JK, that's not fair, just funny)
CA - was there a risk non genuine members might tell the truth?
W - yes
#OpWatts

CR wants to know the specific concern AS had regarding the upcoming 60 mins show.
Witness can't recall, or even confirm that it was AS who expressed concerns.(They bloody panicked, put money on it)
Now were back to "some non genuine members became genuine, it's not fair!
#OpWatts

CA - Let me help you with one aspect of your conversations around that time - Here comes another bomb.......
"Do you remember talking to HH about journos asking him questions?"
W - can't remember, but acknowledges it likely happened.
#OpWatts

CA is drip feeding now, it's practically Chinese water torture.
CA refers to an Age journo forwarding some questions to HH. Seems HH had SACOV concerns at this time, we're not getting shown the comms yet.
CA asks if questions were sent to him, and forwarded to AS
#OpWatts

Now we're listening to a phone call where Witness and AS are spinning on the SACOV situation and trying to make it appear there's nothing to see. Desperately trying to distance themselves from any impropriety.
Wonder if they had a warrant, or got that recording later...
#OpWatts

CA is pushing that some of these bodies had unfair advantage because they were told to apply when other groups weren't, and they were trying to cover that. The witness agrees.
CA also asking about "property" of MK in terms of referring to "her grants"
#OpWatts

CA is clarifying that the witness saw AS as a mentor, witness agrees. Now we're back to the phone call again.
LOL, and they're playing the race card to avoid scrutiny of their African factional activities. "Why you racist, Channel 9!!!" WOW, didn't see that coming.
#OpWatts

They have even specifically dragged Black Lives Matter in here, and white privilege. This is incredible to hear

They are also discussing comparing grants being higher under LNP, which gets them off the hook for rorting. But doesn't that point a racism finger at Labor?🤦‍♀️
#OpWatts

CA - the strategy is racism, yes?
W - yes...
CA - you intended to accuse journalists of racism to deter them from investigating your factional activities?
W - yes
CA - have you discussed this angle before?
W - yes
CA - That's an AS strategy for cover up?
W - yeah....
#OpWatts

CA now discussing a section of text that's intended to be put forward as a response from HH.

It's on screen, and WOW, it's disgusting. Full blown race baiting crap, stuff like "is it because we are black and should not be involved in politics?"

Even for lefties, it's🤮
#OpWatts

CA puts it that Witness and AS were very concerned to hide their activities to spend such amounts of time and go to such desperate lengths to put this journalist off.

CR wants to clarify that both AS and witness had serious concerns about exposure of SACOV grants.
#OpWatts

Witness agrees this is the case.
CA now referring to another document, and asking witness who else he spoke to about this response.
Witness says possibly Robin Scott.
CA confirms that RS and Witness had a relationship. And seems he's showing comms of W & RS at the time.
#OpWatts

Yesterday, the witness had no idea they had evidence on him, today he's assuming they always have evidence before questions are asked. He's finally learning.....
CA - is this outrageous response attacking the journalists motivations so mundane it's not memorable?
#OpWatts

Good question by CA there, highlighting the rotten culture on yet another level. "Whatever it takes" is shining through time after time when this witness speaks.
CA now showing witness some comms with Robin Scott?
#OpWatts

Flying a bit blind here, witness is confirming things that he can see but aren't being shown on the stream.
CA puts it that SACOV was getting the inside word on grants, and the faction was trying to hide this, and witness agrees(Guessing a bit, can't see the exhibit)
#OpWatts

CA seems to be pulling apart an official response to branch stacking and grant rort allegations apart piece by piece.
Witness is agreeing that most of these statements are misleading or false.
"SACOV has never had any assistance or support, period?" Witness - false.
#OpWatts

CCB should have an L in it......
The document being shown was apparently approved by AS and RS, but witness cannot confirm 100%
Document seems to be "an official media release/response" to 60 mins allegations, not sure of the intended target.
#OpWatts

CR confirms with the witness this document was prepared by the witness, on behalf of HH. Witness states re the last dot point on it, that HH assured him all grant applications and disbursements were above board.
CA asks if witness cared if this was actually true.
#OpWatts

LOL, "it matters now for sure" but also he believes it would have mattered to him at the time, despite all the other complete tosh in this statement. He assumed it was true, but had no idea.
CR puts it the entirety of the document, esp the bullet points, was a facade.
#OpWatts

"That was the purpose of it, wasn't it?"
Witness - yes
CA asks if AS and Witness workshopped it to be exactly that, witness agrees.
CA wants to know why the witness, with a new baby, and AS, a minister of the crown, would conspire to cover up irregularities at SACOV
#OpWatts

Witness says it's part of the sacrifices they all made to build the faction, basically.
They wanted to kill off an investigation which might bring bad press coverage on the faction, and that was the objective.
CA pushes that it's a cover up attempt.
#OpWatts

"Well journalists aren't IBAC, sometimes they have agendas" 😂😂😂😂😂😂
(What an absolute clown show. We should put this guy on for the entire week.)
Witness says journo might have a factional beef, rather than anti corruption beef.
#OpWatts

CA now asks if witness has any evidence of other factions involved in similar activities.
Witness says he has no evidence, but believes it's likely, given the evidence of branch stacking and rorting culture that's since been uncovered.
#OpWatts

(CA and CR absolutely setting the scene for witnesses and investigations into other factions, but we are nowhere near understanding yet if that's going to be the case. I guess we will have to be patient.)
#OpWatts

CA now referring to document again, he puts it that Witness is making the claim (to the journo) that absolutely no financial impropriety is going on, and that the witness knows it's a false claim, witness agrees.

#OpWatts

"Councillor Garotti had absolutely no involvement in this project" - witness, writing as HH. Witness agrees that's him distancing himself from the investigation.
"I have never been involved in branch stacking period" - witness writing as HH. Another lie says CA
#OpWatts

"SACOV is a NFP, with no political affiliation" - another false statement intended for the journalist, and confirmed by the witness as completely false.

LOL, CR asks if it's reasonable to read the witness demeanour as "thoroughly embarrassed" right now.
Witness - yeah
#OpWatts

CR asks about a break if it's convenient, CA indicates about 30 minutes left, CR says it's a good time for a break but Witness seems very keen to push on and get it over with, so we're continuing on.
#OpWatts

CA is now putting a hypothetical grant fraud case to the witness, to make sure the witness is aware of accounting standards. I think more receipts are coming, and oh yes they are.....
A table of grants to SACOV, and receipts tendered. Oh boy....
#OpWatts

Looks like we might be about to hear of expenditure by SACOV claimed twice, against State Govt, and also against Banyule council grants.
CA states there appears to be $18k of double counting against different grants of the same expenditure.
HH is screwed.....
#OpWatts

CA provides another example of ~$5k double counting between council and dept of justice, seems to be responsible gambling related.

Wow, $430k sent via council grants to SACOV, and around $100k was double claimed against other grants. Wonder what that got spent on? 🧐
#OpWatts

Now CA goes back to earlier claim by witness that funds were properly acquitted, and asks, as a councillor, what processes were used to verify funds were spent appropriately.
Witness is now describing what *should* have happened.(Probably should have taken lunch 😂)
#OpWatts

CA is pushing that as a councillor, witness should know in far more detail what obligations SACOV should have regarding auditing of grant funding.
Witness insists that this task belongs to council officers, who would need to report it to council members.
#OpWatts

CR intervenes and says the witness seems to have answered how it works, rather than "what did you know?" which was the actual question.
Witness is falling back on generics to describe what should happen.
CR puts it that auditing seems to be completely missing.
#OpWatts

Witness completely understands what's happened, but cant explain the lack of auditing. Seems to be a complete honour system.

CA now asks for a ten minute break to confer with his officers, and we are getting close to the end I think. Back soon!
#OpWatts

And we're back!!!!! And CA asks straight away about letters of support to obtain SACOV grants. Witness agrees.
CA - From whom? Witness says state governments
CA asks about Banyule, Witness says no, well I hope not....
CA asks about conversations with council officers
#OpWatts

Witness says he didn't have specific conversations about grants, just general follow up from officers.
CA now confirms with witness he is no longer an ALP member, witness confirms.
CA asks about administrative charges against him via BMR, witness confirms there were.
#OpWatts

Witness confirms he resigned rather than face those charges.
CA now asks about HH, who didn't resign and faced his charges. CA asks if the witness helped prepare a defence for HH against the charges, witness agrees.
CR asks if it was a full and frank account, W - No...
#OpWatts

CR puts it that the witness helped to prepare a fraudulent defence for Haraco, witness agrees.
CR claims that the witness denied allegations at the time, wants to know witness agrees that his activities not only breached ALP rules, but also misappropriated public monies.
#OpWatts

CR is making the case here that "denial" is part of the culture of branch stacking, and the witness agrees.
CR now mentions a section from the #RedShirts ombudsman report regarding Electoral office staff, and how they must not undertake party political activity.
#OpWatts

Witness confirms that he understands that this misappropriation of employment identified by the ombudsman is basically the same as what happened in branch stacking.
CR asks the witness to confirm he understood such use of staff was fundamentally wrong. Witness agrees
#OpWatts

CA back to factional patronage now. States it involved acts of dishonesty, engaging in obtaining public resources/funds for factional purposes. Witness agrees.
CA continues - looking after factional allies with paid but fictional jobs, witness agrees
#OpWatts

CA - and these activities are all done to pursue power, within the party, and politically. Witness agrees.
CA further puts it that obtaining this power allows for people to be recruited to increase this power, witness agrees.
#OpWatts

CA asks if the witness has reflected on how he became involved in activities he is now embarrassed and ashamed about.
Witness describes observing and accepting the culture, due to the aspirations he had at the time.
(Pragmatism I guess you'd call that)
#OpWatts

CA no points to the professional activities of the witness, saying that this culture doesn't exist there, so why does it exist within Labor?
Witness claims it's never been called out, but CA disagrees, pointing to #RedShirts.
"I don't think there were lessons learned"
#OpWatts

(He's damn right no lessons were learned from #RedShirts because NOBODY WENT TO JAIL)
Witness suggests that no independent body has done a deep dive into the party activities such as IBAC is doing now, and hopes this will bring about a better culture. *witness tears up*
#OpWatts

Looks like we're done with Mr Garotti. His council has no matters to raise with the Commissioner. He won't be released from summons in case he is needed as a rebuttal witness. Commissioner thanks him for his frankness during a difficult process.
#OpWatts

LOL, and surprise surprise, Haraco is pulling a sickie and won't be fronting up this week. Didn't see that coming at all.

So it looks like that's it for the day, and the week. BIG day, so much dirt in one little region. Imagine if that's replicated faction & state wide.
#OpWatts