Social club linked to bent coppers

Social club linked to bent coppers

February 21, 2008

From Sirslackcat

Croatian Club linked to probe
Nick McKenzie
February 21, 2008
A SECRET anti-corruption taskforce examining links between police, criminals and sex workers has raided the Australian Croatian Association as part of inquiries into its president, a long-serving police officer, Tony Juric.
Officers from a joint Victoria Police and Office of Police Integrity taskforce raided the club premises in Footscray last Friday, seizing documents and financial records.
The raids were the first overt move of a long-running investigation into several police with suspected improper associations, including some who have served at inner-city stations.
It is the latest in a string of corruption inquiries to hit the force, from investigations into the former drug squad in 2002-04, two continuing taskforces into police links to underworld murders, and the recent OPI public hearings into the police union chief, Paul Mullett, and a former top officer, Noel Ashby.
Mr Juric, who has been president of the Croatian Social Club since 1995, was suspended from his role as uniform sergeant at the St Kilda police station in October.
He was charged recently over an unrelated matter involving an alleged attempt to cover up a traffic accident involving a police vehicle.
Mr Juric’s links with figures tied to the crime world have caused concern among law enforcement officers.
But supporters of Sergeant Juric say he strongly denies any wrongdoing.
They say and is a popular policeman whose wide network stems from his role as an ethnic community leader, former police union delegate and a former detective in the armed offenders squad.
One of Mr Juric’s closest friends is Tony Ilija Crnac, a building union official who was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in 2001 in a $147 million hashish importation, allegedly tied to the Moran crime family. In a move approved by his superior officers, Sergeant Juric gave character testimony for Mr Crnac during his County Court trial.
Mr Crnac, who was released from prison last year, is an active member of the Croatian Club.
Mr Juric also gave character testimony for a former police officer, Mario Siketa, who was sentenced to one year in prison in September 2006 for receiving $280,000 in secret commissions while working as a private security consultant at the Melbourne Grand Prix.
It is believed Mr Juric’s support in court of Mr Siketa was also approved by senior police.
In a speech at a Croatian community function in 2006, Sergeant Juric thanked the gangland identity and crane company owner Mick Gatto, along with 19 other building industry figures, for providing free materials, labour and equipment to renovate the Croatian association headquarters.
A June 2006 report from The Croatian Herald quoted Sergeant Juric as saying that Mr Gatto’s company was among several whose “work, material and/or financial donations or otherwise, enabled this great project to come to this stage”.
He also thanked Mr Gatto’s business partner in the crane company, Matt Tomas, who is a long-time friend of Mr Juric, and also plays a prominent role in the Croatian community as chairman of the Melbourne Knights Football Club, of which Sergeant Juric is a former board member.
Mr Gatto was cleared of the murder of an underworld hitman in June 2005.
The police facing charges along with Mr Juric in relation to unrelated allegations of covering up a car crash are Senior Constable Belinda Rampal and probationary Constable Alan Black.