Embattled security firm haemorrhaging high-profile clients amid growing scandals

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Four AFL clubs, Sydney University and Melbourne’s Formula 1 grand prix have dumped embattled security giant MA Services Group after it was revealed to be linked to suspected tax evasion, worker exploitation and a bikie gang, along with the outing of the firm’s owner as an accused serial sexual harasser.

As the scandal involving MA continues to widen, the firm’s owner and founder, Micky Ahuja, has hired veteran spin doctor Max Markson to brief reporters and organise a Monday morning press conference that was abandoned as hastily as it was organised.

MA Services Group boss Micky Ahuja’s company was until recently a major sponsor of the Melbourne Demons.

Markson is the third public relations adviser engaged by Ahuja since the scandal about his firm broke in November. The millionaire security entrepreneur cut ties with his two previous PR companies in favour of the Sydney celebrity agent whose past clients include actor Craig McLachlan, boxer Mike Tyson and former US president Bill Clinton.

Markson said Ahuja was planning a legal and PR campaign to clear his firm’s name after it was implicated in an ongoing Australian Tax Office investigation into a network of subcontractors used by the security company to employ and pay the thousands of security guards and cleaners it supplies to major sporting events, prominent retailers and government agencies across the country.

Pressed by this masthead to point out a single factual error in the series of investigative reports that have revealed a range of serious allegations facing MA and Ahuja, Markson declined.

“I’ve done my own research, and I’m sure that he’s got a strong case,” said Markson, who in 2024 attempted to help McLachlan rebuild his career after the actor was accused of the mistreatment of female actors.

On Friday, this masthead confirmed the Australian Grand Prix Corporation was the latest of MA’s blue-chip clients to sever commercial arrangements with the firm.

Melbourne Football Club has ended its sponsorship agreement with MA, confirming last Friday it would remove all club merchandise emblazoned with the MA Services Group brand.

“The Melbourne Football Club would like to advise that its sponsorship with MA Services has ceased,” the club said in a statement. “Their logo will not feature on the club’s playing guernsey and all other entitlements of the sponsorship will cease to exist.”

When MA Services was announced as a major partner of the Demons in January, owner and then-chief executive Ahuja said the deal with the club “perfectly aligns with our own values of excellence, inclusivity, and community”.

AFL clubs Brisbane, Hawthorn and Essendon have also cancelled sponsorship agreements with MA over the past week to avoid any association with the scandal-plagued company.

All four clubs have removed any trace of the embattled company from their websites.

The reporting has prompted other prominent MA clients, including Sydney University and property giant CBRE, to sever ties with MA.

In a statement, Nicole Gower, Sydney University vice president of operations, described the allegations facing MA as “extremely concerning”.

“We’ve terminated the agreement we recently signed [with MA],” Gower said.

“The delivery of services had not yet commenced, and we’ve arranged for alternate security services. The safety and wellbeing of our community is always our top priority.”

Last week, this masthead revealed troubling allegations that Ahuja was involved in sexual harassment, bullying and offering vulnerable women cash in exchange for sex.

A series of Snapchat messages revealed Ahuja had offered one woman multiple payments of $1000 in return for sex, with the offer made after he learnt the woman was financially vulnerable having separated from one of MA’s senior managers, whom she had accused of domestic violence.

Ahuja stepped down as chief executive on December 11, denying all allegations of misconduct involving women and dismissing the reports of other allegedly unlawful or improper behaviour involving MA as false.

Coles launched an investigation into its contracts with MA Services, while the Victorian government suspended the firm from a list of preferred security suppliers.

“Every woman deserves to feel safe at work,” Government Services Minister Natalie Hutchins said at the time.

“The allegations against MA Services are deeply concerning, which is why we are suspending the firm from the government’s supplier panel.”

However, the Albanese government faces mounting pressure over the continuing engagement of MA and its subcontractors by Commonwealth organisations, including Australia’s peak criminal intelligence agency.

Along with the probe by tax authorities, it has also been previously revealed that MA Services Group had a previous business relationship with a labour-hire firm owned by a bikie gang boss.

Last week, this masthead also revealed how MA personnel had repeatedly attempted to cover up their role in an ongoing and controversial operation involving a private security force sent to the Pacific island of Nauru to guard exiled Australian immigration detainees.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has refused to answer questions about whether it was appropriate for MA Services Group to retain a multimillion-dollar contract to guard the offices of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, given the ATO investigations into entities linked to MA for suspected tax evasion. The ATO is one of the intelligence commission’s law enforcement partners.