Documents show Madden knew everything almost 4 years ago

Justin Madden is claiming that he knew nothing about the activities of Hakki Suleyman, his electorate officer, raised in the Ombudsman's report released on 7 May 2009. Of course, that's what he is saying; he is running for cover. But nothing could be further from the truth. Documents show that Madden knew Hakki was involved in all sorts of shenagigans with the Brimbank City Council almost 4 years ago.

For example, on 8 September 2005, the Hon. John Vogels raised concerns about Hakki Suleyman's involvement in the Cairnlea Soccer club scandal (now a major feature of the Ombudsman's report), as reported in Hansard. He spoke on this issue for almost 30 minutes! At one point, Vogels stated:

The Minister for Sport’s part‑time assistant is Hakki ‘Harry’ Suleyman, the father of Cr Natalie Suleyman and the former public officer of the Albion Rovers Soccer Club. The vice‑president of the Albion Rovers Soccer Club committee of management is Mehmet Suleyman. He is the brother of Cr Natalie Suleyman and the son of Mr Hakki Suleyman.

How could the mayor vote for a decision to give $650 000 to a soccer club when her father and her brother are part of that soccer club?

That was September 2005. Now Justin Madden is saying the first he knew of any of this was the Ombudsman's report of 7 May 2009. We hold correspondence from a very concerned Sunshine resident who wrote to Madden on 2 June 2005:

The Suleyman family is currently involved in conflict of interest allegations as reported in the local press (“Mayor: leave my family out of it” the Star, 10.05.05 p.5). The story involves the mayor's role in a Council vote to benefit a sports club with alleged long-term links to the Suleyman family. Other irregularities have been reported on the issue which are revealing.

Now it seems Mr Suleyman is confronting and intimidating members of the public gallery at Brimbank Council meetings.

This has been on the public record for nearly 4 years. Like Madden, we have known what is going on for many years and we know that Madden's lack of action is due to the benefits gained from branch stacking.

Planning Minister Justin Madden now stands accused of misleading the parliament over his knowledge of the activities of Hakki Suleyman at Brimbank Council. Suleyman has worked in Madden's electoral office for a number of years. The activities have been well documented in the public domain - and brought to the attention of his departments - over those years.

Everybody knows Justin knew everything.