Mr Wilson's withdrawal of the last of more than $60,000 from the Construction Industry Fund was still possible in late January 1996, as neither Julia Gillard nor her firm, Slater & Gordon, had alerted the AWU to the existence of his major slush fund months earlier.
The Prime Minister denies wrongdoing in relation to the AWU Workplace Reform Association, which she gave advice to help Mr Wilson set up and later described as a "slush fund" for the re-election of union officials, saying she had no knowledge of its operations.
But she and the firm have declined to answer questions from The Australian about why they did not alert their client, the AWU, or police to its existence when they learned Mr Wilson was being investigated for fraud involving a separate fund.
The records show that the AWU's lack of knowledge of the AWU Workplace Reform Association prevented the freezing of stolen money in the Construction Industry Fund's bank account.
Mr Wilson drained the Construction Industry Fund's bank account at a rate of more than $5000 a week for 12 successive weeks between November 1995 and the end of January 1996, despite having been ousted from the union months earlier.
In one two-week period, in January 1996, more than $36,000 was stripped from the account in cash withdrawals of between $3500 and $7500.
By the time the union's national leadership discovered the Construction Industry Fund, its balance was zero. The leaders were furious at the time because they were denied the opportunity to prevent the funds being stolen by Mr Wilson.
The Australian has examined Commonwealth Bank documents showing the Construction Industry Fund received $46,550 from the AWU Workplace Reform Association's account in April 1995.
The documents include bank statements, copies of cheques and withdrawal details.
The records show the Construction Industry Fund received a cheque from major builder Thiess for more than $20,000, which was only deposited in late December 1995, despite having been drawn months earlier.
The draining of funds from the Construction Industry Fund months after the union officials had been ousted from the AWU occurred amid the sale and dispersal of proceeds in early 1996 from a terrace house in Fitzroy, in Melbourne's inner northeast, which had been bought with about $100,000 of slush fund cash.
Mr Wilson and his bagman, Ralph Blewitt, controlled the slush funds, which were operated unlawfully and concealed from the union. Mr Blewitt, who told The Australian in August that he was a party to sham transactions and fraud via the slush funds, gave a statement to Victorian fraud squad police on Friday.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars from Thiess was secretly paid into the AWU Workplace Reform Association fund, then siphoned off by Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt.
About $100,000 went towards the 1993 purchase for $230,000 of a terrace house in Melbourne in Mr Blewitt's name, for Mr Wilson to live in. Ms Gillard attended the auction with Mr Wilson.
Ms Gillard's insistence that she was not aware of the workings of the association in the four years of her relationship with Mr Wilson was backed up by the former union leader in News Limited reports published yesterday.
Legal documents show that in August 1995, the discovery by the union's national leaders of a third Wilson-controlled slush fund - the Melbourne-based, AWU Members Welfare Association No 1 account - led to a furore, and police investigations into almost $200,000 paid in by large construction companies.
By September 1995, the escalation of the controversy and the forced redundancy of Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt had led to a probe by Slater & Gordon, because Ms Gillard was the solicitor for the AWU and the two men.
The firm found that, in 1992, Ms Gillard had provided the legal advice to Mr Wilson that led to the establishment of the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
Ms Gillard told her firm it was a "slush fund" to pay for the election of union officials.
Concerns over Ms Gillard's conduct led to her abrupt departure as a salaried partner of Slater & Gordon, which also ceased acting for Mr Wilson, Mr Blewitt and the AWU.
The law firm had concerns over its role in the scandal, however, the union's then national joint secretary, Ian Cambridge, was not advised about the existence of the AWU Workplace Reform Association slush fund.
Legal documents and bank records show he did not discover the association until the Commonwealth Bank told him of its accounts in April 1996.
Mr Cambridge swore an affidavit in September 1996 that the slush fund accounts were "used to hold and/or launder union funds, as a step in the conversion of those funds to unauthorised, invalid, irregular and possibly illegal uses".
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