Police stand outside a house that was involved in pre-dawn raids in the western Sydney suburb of Guilford September 18, 2014.
Police stand outside a house that was involved in pre-dawn raids in the western Sydney suburb of Guilford September 18, 2014. More than 800 police were involved in the pre-dawn raids, described as the largest in Australian history, with at least 15 people detained. Australian police will allege that members of a group targeted in the sweeping counter-terrorism operation on Thursday planned to behead a random member of the public after draping the victim in the flag of Islamic State militants, Australia media reported. Without referring to specifics, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia was at "serious risk from a terrorist attack". Reuters/David Gray

The counsel helping the Royal Commission into trade unions matters made recommendations on Wednesday morning to pose criminal charges on the former Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union bosses, Dave Hanna and Michael Ravbar, along with a Sydney businessman, George Alex.

Hanna was being investigated over procurement of thousands of dollars from the employees in the company to pay for the IVF treatment of a union organiser’s wife. In September, the royal commission heard Hanna where he said that it was Ravbar’s complaint that triggered the legal action against him. He also acknowledged trying to incriminate the image of Ravbar by changing the receipt from the tip truck and adding his name on it.

Hanna was suspected of destroying documents that they thought might prove him guilty of illegal acts, while Ravbar was found instructing to cover up the security cameras so that the documents could easily be destructed, though the witnesses denied the allegation, saying it was Hanna and not Ravbar who ordered them to do so. Alex, on the other hand, has been recommended charges over alleged corruption payments.

During the September inquiry, a police surveillance recording was heard in which Hanna was found discussing destruction of “seven tonnes” of documents.

“Having regard to all of the circumstances, the Commission should find that Mr Ravbar and Mr Hanna’s conduct was done with an intention to conceal the removal and destruction of documents which they believed were or could be relevant to the conduct of the Commission’s future proceedings,” the report submitted by the counsel assisting the commission read.

The offences include charges under Queensland Criminal Code Section 129 for damaging the evidence leading to maximum of seven years of jail, Commonwealth Crimes Act Section 39 for destroying the material leading to a maximum of five years of jail, and Royal Commissions Act 1992 section leading to either a maximum of two years of jail or penalty worth AU$10,000.

Shortly after the report submission, the counsel released a statement that said, “It should be remembered that these submissions are essentially just the view of the prosecution ... not the findings of the Commission.”

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