Federal police are raiding the home of former CFMEU boss John Perkovic over allegations he took up to $3 million in bribes from company bosses.
No charges have been laid.
On Wednesday morning, neighbours told The Age they observed officers searching a Hislop Street, Keilor property – which was allegedly developed by Perkovic with the help of company bosses he was meant to oversee as one of the CFMEU’s most powerful organisers.
The allegations that Perkovic received inducements from company bosses were first exposed as part of The Age’s Building Bad series last year prompting Perkovic’s sacking from the union and sparking a federal police investigation.
A person outside a neighbouring property told The Age early on Wednesday morning that they had seen a number of officers scouring Perkovic’s property.
Perkovic was the leader of the so-called Croation faction within the union and his sacking was a major blow to the Labor-backed CFMEU administration, which only weeks earlier had promoted Perkovic to the role of deputy leader of the Victorian union branch.
The raid of Perkovic comes after Victoria Police’s Taskforce Hawk charged two former CFMEU delegates Tyrone Bell and Joel Brown with alleged financial crimes connected to a business Bell started after he was sacked from the union in July 2024. Both Bell and Brown were former senior members of the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang.
The raid of Perkovic’s home will send fresh shockwaves through the construction industry given his former power within the CFMEU and his close relationship with disgraced former union chief John Setka.
In his Rotting from the Top report tabled in the Queensland commission of inquiry, Geoffrey Watson, SC, took aim at Perkovic as one of a number of corrupt leadership figures.
“The problem with this was that these men were corrupt, known to be corrupt, and were promoted and protected by Setka,” he said.
Last month, this masthead revealed that Setka had been seen dining with Perkovic at an upmarket seafood and steak restaurant along with an allegedly corrupt construction industry boss.
Perkovic is accused of using his union power to promote certain building companies owned by bosses who provided him with undeclared benefits including land on the Hislop Street property and luxury vehicles, as well as loans.
Perkovic has previously claimed that the cars he was provided were merely loaned to him and he intended to repay the building company bosses for the benefits they provided.
The raid will once again turn the spotlight on Victorian Premier Ben Carroll’s promised royal commission led by former SA chief justice Chris Kourakis.
In the fortnight since Kourakis’ appointment there has been no news from the royal commission about who will work as counsel assisting the inquiry, the director of operations, instructing solicitors, investigators or when the first hearing will be called.
More to come
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Nick McKenzie is an Age investigative journalist who has three times been named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year. A winner of 20 Walkley Awards, including the Gold Walkley, he investigates politics, business, foreign affairs and criminal justice.Connect via email.
