Police have arrested a former construction union organiser and previous Labor Party sub-branch president after he admitted to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in payments from tradesmen to help them win work.
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The former ACT Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union organiser Halafihi 'Fihi' Kivalu was arrested after his admission at a Canberra hearing of the royal commission into unions on Thursday.
Mr Kivalu, who was president of the ALP's Dickson-Morning sub-branch in Canberra at the time he was allegedly involved in corruption, has denied the cash payments constituted a bribe or that he could guarantee contracts and he has contested other allegations against him.
It is understood he was replaced as the ALP Dickson-Morning sub-branch president by another CFMEU official in May after holding the position for at least 12 months.
The CFMEU expelled Mr Kivalu from its ranks on Tuesday after the commission heard two days of allegations that he solicited and collected tens of thousands of dollars in cash from Canberra tradesmen.
CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan has called for the allegations to be referred to the police, with a pledge that any subsequent investigation would have the co-operation of the union.
ACT Policing issued a statement saying officers had arrested a 39-year-old Queanbeyan man after the commission hearings.
During the hearing before his arrest, Mr Kivalu was played tape recordings of phone conversations with his wife and with formwork subcontractor Elias Taleb. Mr Taleb has alleged he paid Mr Kivalu $50,000 to win a contract to work on a Yarralumla building site.
Mr Kivalu agreed he received money from Mr Taleb, but said Mr Taleb offered the money voluntarily in the hope that Mr Kivalu would "put in a good word for his company so that they would be better placed to win work".
Counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar, put it to Mr Kivalu that the recordings proved he was giving false evidence under oath.
Mr Kivalu denied this, saying the phone calls had been part of an elaborate ruse to pay back Mr Taleb, who he said had been blackmailing him.
The commission has heard evidence from a number of tradesmen who alleged Mr Kivalu demanded cash, which they paid, in order to work in the Canberra market.
Mr Kivalu rejected claims he told Mr Taleb he could not work in the ACT unless his workers were CFMEU members.
He also denied he had a relationship with builders that would enable him to "influence them in any way concerning the appointment of subcontractors".
The commission this week heard from a witness who told how he had paid $5000 for tickets to a Tongan community fundraiser to get on Mr Kivalu's good side.
Mr Kivalu's lawyer put it to Clive Arona, the director of concreting company Multi-Crete, that a meeting at which Mr Arona said he saw form-work subcontractor Elias Taleb give Mr Kivalu a white envelope "never happened".
"It occurred," Mr Arona said.
The lawyer then put it to Mr Arona that the concreter did not see Mr Taleb give an envelope to Mr Kivalu.
"Yes I did," Mr Arona said.
Mr Taleb told the commission on Monday that he made payments to Mr Kivalu totalling about $135,000 in exchange for support in obtaining contracts.
