FORMER Australian Workers Union official Ralph Blewitt has apologised to AWU members for his role in misappropriating money from a secret slush fund, before a formal meeting with police in Melbourne this week.
Mr Blewitt arrived in Australia yesterday from his home in Malaysia and said he wanted to apologise for the fraud in which he and fellow official Bruce Wilson issued bogus invoices and siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from the union."I'd like to say I deeply regret and sincerely apologise to the membership of the Australian Workers Union for any harm or problems I would have caused them throughout this whole - what would you call it? - business," he said. "Naturally, union members would be angry. I personally didn't do them any harm."
Mr Blewitt met with his lawyer to discuss a written statement that will be given to Victoria Police.
Mr Blewitt said yesterday that Julia Gillard did have questions to answer over the slush fund she helped establish in 1992 for Mr Wilson, her then boyfriend.
The Prime Minister was a solicitor at Slater & Gordon at the time and acted for the AWU. Ms Gillard has repeatedly and vehemently denied wrongdoing, saying she knew nothing of the operations of the fund.
"I would say to anybody that has any knowledge of this, please come forward and clear the decks," Mr Blewitt told the ABC.
"Get it out there, the public have a right to know. The police need as much information as they can, so that they can, if they deem necessary, reopen and investigate the thing."
Mr Blewitt said he was coming forward to ensure that freedom of speech and the press were not "shut down". He said he had not financially benefited from the fund.
He has previously admitted engaging in the fraud with Mr Wilson and vowed to tell police everything he knows in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Mr Wilson has remained silent as revelations have emerged over the past few months, but previously denied wrongdoing.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Blewitt said he felt guilty that he had not spoken to authorities earlier about the fraud.
Asked why he was prepared to co-operate now, he said he had recently learned that former AWU Victorian president Bob Kernohan had tried to make the fraud public in 1996 "and got a bloody belting by union thugs for trying to disclose this".
"(He) is still scared and still gets a bullet in the mail with his name on it," Mr Blewitt said.
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