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召妓丑闻包不住 工党濒临垮台 Paul Sheehan 25 August 2011 随着汤森(Craig Thomson)丑闻的深度曝光，种种不利舆论纷至沓来，鸡拉德当局的执政地位已是岌岌可危。早前，面对汤森丑闻，工党曾振臂高呼高呼“信任第一”，如今，诸多罪证连环曝光，连当事人都快哑口无言了，工党的信心恐怕也是难以为继。 回过头来一想，也是汤森太傻了，竟留下一堆证据让人白捡，我在新州警署有一个朋友，他以前当过总警司，对这个案子也关注得比较多，他就曾跟我说，汤森案里的人都太愚蠢，骗人的伎俩太低劣，那罪证都是秃子头上的虱子---明摆着的，还用多说什么。 如今，欺骗，撒谎，掩罪的证据陆续浮出水面，联邦议员汤森已是四面楚歌。伴随汤森一起遭到抨击的还有新州警察局，他们在之前一直对汤森案不予理会，直到受害方健康服务联盟站出来抱怨，他们才开始着手调查。我那警司朋友对此就是嗤之以鼻，他大骂新州警署是窝囊废，称他们不会主动调查，总要等到受害者跳出来了，才知道动弹。 我的那位警司好友发表评论称，“实在搞不懂警方动作为何如此迟缓，我相信一定有健康服务联盟的人去报案却未被理睬。这其实是件简单的事，警方投入点人力物力，两三周就能让那些人伏法认罪，只是警方不愿这么去做而已。” 此外，更坑爹的是，由于汤森丑闻已经演变为刑事诉讼，亟待判决，这等同于埋了颗定时炸弹在鸡拉德政府身下，因此就连受害方健康服务联盟也开始要维护工党，对申述也不上心了。 这颗定时炸弹是从周二下午开始滴答响的，当时警方发布声明称，影子内阁总检察长，参议员布兰迪斯(George Brandis)提交了一份针对汤森丑闻的材料，警方将对这份材料进行评估调查。 健康服务联盟昨日并未表态将与警方合作，但据《新州灭罪法案》(NSW Crimes Act)第316条第1款规定，严重的可公诉罪行不能隐瞒不报，具体条款内容是：“如果一个人犯了严重的罪行，达到了可以进行公诉的地步，其他任何知情者没有正当理由，未主动向警方提供线索的，可被判处入两年监禁。” 早两年，已经有报纸把汤森的丑事抖露出来了，但汤森当时却恬不知耻地要告那家报社诽谤，如今，事情真相大白，汤森想来也是无地自容。而且，工党当年还曾秘密帮汤森支付法律咨询费，自然也算是帮凶了，如今，几笔帐算到一起，“舆论炸弹”已到了不得不爆的地步。 回到汤森案本身来看，在2003年，2005年及2006年的时候，汤森还是健康服务联盟的得力干将，他用自己联盟的信用卡在墨尔本及雪梨进行了多次召妓交易，时隔多年后的今天，当有人调查起此事时，汤森却狡辩称，自己的信用卡及电话都被人盗用了，信用卡签名也是别人伪造的。 面对汤森的辩词，澳洲联邦警察局前任探员，笔迹专家Paul Westwood专门将汤森驾照上的签名与联盟信用卡上的签名进行了比对，结果显示这两个签名有极大可能是出自同一人之手。此外，汤森当年的通话记录也能证明，汤森说了谎话。 虽然罪证确凿，汤森还是死不承认拿公款去嫖娼，他后来又辩驳称，自己是用自己私人的卡付的嫖资，完全是属于个人正常私生活。 2008年，健康服务联盟现任执行主席，当时担任秘书长的Kathy Jackson曾向Slater & Gordon律师事务所致信，称汤森的联盟信用卡有几笔交易被用作他的竞选资金，这笔私人用途的挪用资金总额达到了7万澳元。 昨天，议会便要求汤森解释其通过联盟信用卡支出的3万9454澳元的竞选资金，由于这几笔竞选资金并未上报澳洲选举委员会，议会需要向汤森了解这笔钱的来龙去脉。 在一次2UE电台的访谈中，汤森反复强调信用卡的签名是他人伪造的，并称是有一名男子在和健康服务联盟做结算时，把打到联盟信用卡上的15000澳元偷用来进行嫖娼。不过，最新的证据证明，那笔15000澳元的款项根本跟嫖资毫无关系。 昨天的议会质询中，工党本可以有两次机会要求汤森解释他的所作所为，以此来赢得一个铁面无私的形象，重挫反对党的发难，扳回局面，但鸡拉的却仍旧固执己见，称对汤森信心十足。其他与会人士，绿党议员Adam Bandt向来都是姬拉蒂的跟屁虫，自然是随声附和，而乡村独立议员Tony Windsor和 Robert Oakeshott也都力挺汤森，实在是让人看不下去，这帮人如此倒行逆施，议员席位看来也是早晚不保。 Crimes of a fool set to finish off Gillard Crimes have been committed that can bring down the Gillard government, and they are dumb crimes. As a former NSW chief of detectives told me: ''We are ultimately dealing with the crimes of a fool, whomever that fool may be, who has left a documented trail like a bleeding elephant in a snowfield.'' This trail of evidence of fraud, lying and cover-up now roils around the federal Labor MP Craig Thomson. It has also engulfed the NSW Police Force, which implausibly refused to act until a victim had filed a complaint. ''Utter garbage,'' said the former detective. ''Police do not need to have a complaint from a victim in order to investigate a crime.'' Even more damning, the victim in this case, the Health Services Union, clearly had no interest in bringing a complaint because the moment this became a criminal matter it would become a time bomb ticking beneath the Gillard government. It began to tick on Tuesday afternoon when police issued a statement saying that material submitted by the federal shadow attorney-general, Senator George Brandis, would be assessed to see whether a crime had been committed. If the police cannot find a crime here, then it is the police who will need to be assessed. As for the reluctant Health Services Union, it would have had its own case to answer, had it not announced yesterday it would be co-operating with police. Section 316 (1) of the NSW Crimes Act makes it an offence to conceal knowledge of a serious indictable offence: ''If a person has committed a serious indictable offence and another person who knows or believes that the offence has been committed … fails without reasonable excuse to bring that information to the [police] … thatother person is liable to imprisonment for two years.'' ''It is difficult to understand why it took [the police] so long to act,'' said the former detective. ''I believe a union member went into a central coast police station attempting to make a complaint but was turned away … We are not talking about a complicated case. Given resources, this brief would represent two to three weeks' work before somebody could be charged.'' Tick, tick, tick. What kept a lid on this for the past two years was a defamation claim Thomson lodged against this newspaper. When the time finally came to attend court, he withdrew the action. Labor then paid his unhealthy legal bill. It was all done privately, but the public time bomb is now ticking for multiple reasons. In 2003, 2005 and 2006, Thomson's corporate credit card was used to pay escort services in Melbourne and Sydney while he was national secretary of the HSU. He says his signature on receipts to escort agencies were forged. A handwriting expert, Paul Westwood, formerly of the Australian Federal Police, compared the signature on Thomson's driver's licence with the signature on a credit card voucher and concluded they were probably made by the same person. Thomson tried to reverse three payments made to an escort agency on his corporate credit card by using his personal credit cards. Mobile phone records show that Thomson's phone was used to call escort agencies. In 2008, the national secretary of the HSU, Kathy Jackson, now the union's executive president, wrote to the law firm Slater & Gordon claiming Thomson's credit card had been used for a number of transactions that were for private use or for his election campaign. The amounts totalled more than $70,000. In Parliament yesterday, Thomson was asked to account for $39,454 in electoral expenses, incurred via his corporate credit card, that had not been declared to the Australian Electoral Commission. In an interview on 2UE, Thomson, reiterating that the signature on receipts to escort agencies were not his own, said: ''The union reached a settlement with another gentleman who paid back $15,000 in relation to use of credit cards at an escort agency.'' But it has emerged that the $15,000 payment he referred to had nothing to do with escort services. Twice yesterday, the government was able to defeat opposition motions to compel Thomson to explain his conduct, then for the Prime Minister to explain her confidence in Thomson, with the automatic support of the Greens MP, Adam Bandt, plus the rural independents Tony Windsor and Robert Oakeshott, who, like Thomson, are accelerating the end of their parliamentary careers. [ 本帖最后由 长安雪梨 于 2011-8-25 23:27 编辑 ] |
