When Queensland CFMEU ex-supremo David Arthur Hanna got word a royal commission would be looking into his union, he set about destroying tonnes of documents and covering up doing so.
Despite "thumbing his nose" at his own bosses in committing the "reckless" crime which threatened the function of the trade union royal commission, he has now walked free from court.
As state president of the CFMEU, Hanna had dozens of boxes of documents dumped in April 2014 after receiving an email in which he was told of the royal commission's focus on the union.
Hanna instructed colleagues to cover CCTV cameras at the union's Brisbane office before boxes were moved to his home, where he asked staff to try to burn files.
When that failed to destroy them, the boxes were collected in a truck and dumped at a tip near Ipswich.
He then asked a staff member to get rid of what she believed was a receipt for the cost of "burying" documents with an excavator.
Hanna's actions contradicted orders from the national secretary to avoid any destruction of documents until the terms of the royal commission were better understood.
"Mr Hanna's conduct seems to have been really thumbing his nose at that kind of notion, rather taking matters into his own hand as to what approach he should take to documents which at least had the potential to be required in evidence," crown prosecutor Glen Rice QC said in sentencing submissions.
"There wouldn't be any reason to doubt Mr Hanna was a committed union man, had been for many years, and as best one can tell, presumably he thought it was in the union's interest."
A Brisbane District Court jury on Monday rejected Hanna's claim his actions were part of an office clean-up irrelevant to the royal commission.
They found him guilty of a single count of destroying, concealing or mutilating documents - after seven hours of deliberations.
Hanna, a 54-year-old father of three, was handed a nine-month jail sentence.
But he may never spend time inside for the crime as he has been released after paying a $500 good behaviour bond that he will be subject to for the next two years.
"(Your actions) may well have had the potential to negatively impact on commission's important function," judge Julie Ryrie said.
"You were one of the senior leaders, therefore by way of example, you have failed your union in bringing it into disrepute by ... being reckless when you should have known better."
But Justice Ryrie acknowledged there was no concrete evidence pointing to the documents' relevance to the royal commission, nor that he had anything to personally gain from destroying them.
"This case has been litigated against you not on the basis you knowingly did something or indeed even with reckless intention did something," she said.
"Rather, you were simply reckless. That is, you didn't sufficiently turn your mind to (the royal commission)."
Australian Associated Press
