‘Rolled-up cash’: Jail time urged for ex-CFMEU leaders over kickbacks

3 months ago 18

Two former NSW CFMEU officials should be jailed for pocketing thousands of dollars in bribes concealed as rolled-up cash handed under the table at the union’s Sydney office, the District Court has heard.

Darren Greenfield, a former NSW secretary of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, and his son Michael, a former state branch assistant secretary, pleaded guilty this year to corruption-related offences after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.

Former NSW CFMEU leaders Darren and Michael Greenfield outside the NSW District Court in Sydney on Thursday.

Michael also pleaded guilty to signing a false statutory declaration in a bid to avoid demerit points for running a red light. He claimed a foreign worker was behind the wheel.

At a sentencing hearing before District Court Judge Leonie Flannery in Sydney on Thursday, Sophie Callan, SC, for the Crown, urged the court to impose a full-time jail sentence.

Callan said Darren Greenfield displayed “complacency and arrogance” in receiving bribes from a construction industry figure at the union’s office. The payments were concealed as “rolled-up cash bound together with an elastic band and passed under a table”, she said.

Greenfield snr’s crimes took place while he occupied the top position in the union’s construction division in NSW, Callan said.

Former CFMEU leader Darren Greenfield outside the NSW District Court on Thursday.

But the Greenfields’ barrister, Michael Ainsworth, said an intensive correction order, an alternative to prison, would be sufficient. He said the “extraordinary amount of media attention” the duo had received was a factor relevant to sentencing.

“These two men have been sort of a lightning rod for people’s general dissatisfaction or opinions in relation to the union movement,” Ainsworth said.

The Greenfields were charged with corruption offences in September 2021, but an extensive investigation by this masthead in 2024 brought renewed attention to the case by revealing allegations of corruption and that the CFMEU more broadly had been infiltrated by organised crime.

Darren Greenfield pleaded guilty to two charges related to receiving corrupting benefits. The maximum penalty for those offences under the Fair Work Act is 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine of more than $1 million, or both.

‘These two men have been sort of a lightning rod for people’s general dissatisfaction or opinions in relation to the union movement.’

Barrister Michael Ainsworth, acting for ex-CFMEU leaders Darren and Michael Greenfield

The court was also asked to take into account in sentencing Greenfield snr two additional offences related to receiving cash payments on two days in late 2018.

“In summary, between 3 November 2018, and 19 June 2020, on four separate occasions, Darren Greenfield received cash payments totalling $20,000,” Callan told the court. “At the time, he was the state secretary of the CFMEU.”

The payments were made by a union member and co-offender known as AF, Callan said.

Callan said Darren Greenfield suggested to AF that he could “shut down building sites and influence the award of construction jobs”.

Michael Greenfield has admitted signing a false statutory declaration after running a red light.

Even if this was “just ‘talk’ ... there is still a distorting effect on the relationship between the union and the industry”, Callan said.

The court heard that AF helped Michael Greenfield find a foreign worker in October 2018 to take the rap for the traffic infringement.

“It was motivated by personal gain, that is, avoiding loss of demerit points,” Callan said.

She submitted that it was relevant to the seriousness of the offence that it involved AF, who later paid bribes to both men.

Michael Greenfield pleaded guilty to one offence under the NSW Oaths Act for signing the false statutory declaration.

He also pleaded guilty to one charge of receiving a corrupting benefit, and the court was asked to take into account an additional offence of receiving a cash payment.

“On two separate occasions, in January 2019 and May 2019, [Michael Greenfield received] ... cash payments totalling $10,000,” Callan said.

“At the time he was the assistant state secretary of the [union].” AF made the payments.

Ainsworth said Michael Greenfield, a former rugby league player, had been in a “dark place” after his sporting career ended as a result of injury.

The statutory declaration offence was “just one of those dumb things that people do”, Ainsworth submitted.

“It’s not sinister. It’s just three demerit points. That’s a matter that would not result in a custodial sentence.” The Crown did not agree with that characterisation.

Ainsworth said there was no prospect of the men reoffending and they were good candidates for rehabilitation.

He said Michael Greenfield accepted he had been “much too easily led” and was “susceptible to suggestion”.

“It’s quite plain on any reading of the facts that AF sought a pathway to Darren Greenfield and, to a lesser extent, Michael Greenfield.

“He wanted to obtain a commercial advantage, a competitive advantage, in the tendering for … various jobs around Sydney. He was hoping to find a way to make the wheels turn to enable him to receive more work or some work for his firm … over the interests of other fellow contractors.”

But Ainsworth said AF “largely handed over money for no actual benefit”.

The judge will deliver her decision on Friday, November 21.