Union investigator Geoffrey Watson returns as Queensland commission probes union’s worksite misconduct

Counsel assisting the inquiry Mark Costello KC is now taking anti-corruption expert Geoffrey Watson SC through some other the key identities in his Victorian report.

One of these is John Khoury, described by Watson in his report as Mick Gatto’s partner and a member of the “Carlton Crew” who “also works an extortion racket in Queensland”.

Watson says Khoury was brought into by another Gatto associate, Nic Maric, to to negotiate with the CFMEU on behalf of a Gold Coast developer the latter knew. (Khoury was paid $110,000 fee for an hour-long meeting.)

“He [the developer] was there, and he was asked to leave. He was sent an invoice, and his problems evaporated,” Watson says.

Maric also has a close association with the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang, Watson says, and may have brought figures from the group to Queensland.