John Setka, the former head of the CFMEU in Victoria, has denied he has a history of intimidating people and claims a secret deal between the union and the Federal Government cost him his job.
Mr Setka ran the powerful and now disgraced Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union for more than 10 years, but suddenly quit last month amid allegations that bikies and criminals had infiltrated the union.
The former union heavy made the claims in a bombshell interview aired on Sunday night on 7NEWS Spotlight, breaking his silence and admitting the allegations are true.
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In his interview with 7NEWS Melbourne’s Sharnelle Vella, Mr Setka claims he resigned after a deal was struck between between the union and Federal Government officials.
“The truth is there was a deal struck. I offered myself when I heard that there could be an administrator appointed,” he told 7NEWS Spotlight.
“Conversations were that there would be administrators brought into the Victorian branch and the administrator . . . I said, ‘you know what, I’ll go, I will pull the pin today because my job is to protect the union and its members’.
“That’s my job and I’ll go today. But they leave the union alone. My job is to protect the union. So, I said, ‘I’ll leave today, but they don’t bring administrators in’.”
In the interview, Mr Setka also addresses the infamous incident of him dropping a suitcase in the driveway of a home occupied by CFMEU assistant national secretary Leo Skourdoumbis with the words the “Leo the Dog” written on it.
“I virtually drive past his place every day on the way to the shopping centre to do my shopping. It was his suitcase and I dropped it off . . . I wrote Leo the Dog on his suitcase, and I dropped it off in his driveway,” Mr Setka says.
When told by Vella that was somewhat of an intimidating thing to do, Mr Setka says: “Well, if that’s intimidating, I think people maybe ought to drink a cup of concrete and harden up a little bit. Really? I mean, that was his suitcase, and I returned his suitcase.
“I have never ever gone to people’s houses. I have never ever had a history of going to people’s family homes or intimidating them ever.”
John Setka’s explosive interview will air on 7NEWS Spotlight at 8.40pm on Sunday on Seven and 7Plus.