Luke Smith - Logan Mayor

[sprintcyclist]

BUSINESS leaders have called on the mayor of Logan, south of Brisbane, to step aside amid allegations he corruptly received a speedboat boat from a Chinese developer.

Queensland’s Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has ruled out removing mayor Luke Smith from his post, saying it’s up to him to decide if he can continue.

But Logan Chamber of Commerce secretary Stewart Fleming says Smith should leave his posts while the allegations are dealt with.

“I think we need strong leadership,” Mr Fleming told ABC radio. “Even (if he’s) not guilty he’s going to have a lot to deal with and I think it’s probably unfair to expect the man to defend himself and continue to face internal battles.”

Logan mayor Luke Smith was arrested yesterday.
Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission alleges Smith lied to its Operation Belcarra, which was investigating alleged corruption in the March 2016 council elections.

The 48-year-old has been charged with official corruption, failing to correct his council register of interests and two counts of perjury.

The CCC found the company Logan Futures created an “artificial separation” between Smith and his financial backers, which reduced the transparency of donations.

The company was set up to direct donations and pay campaign expenses and received $377,883 from dozens of property developers and businesses.

The ABC has reported that the charges against Smith relate to a speedboat given to him by a Chinese developer which he later sold.


Acting on the watchdog’s recommendation, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in October introduced legislation banning political donations from property developers, which is due to be voted on in State Parliament by May.

Smith is scheduled to front Beenleigh Magistrates Court on April 17. He is expected to contest the charges.

Yesterday, he tweeted he would be “vigorously defending” the charges.

http://www.news.com.au/national/queensl ... 233fd67a3f


he was arrested in a council meeting. Word is 1/2 the people there went white, 1/2 smirked

[sprintcyclist]

Good, he has been a bad smell for some time.
Word is, he pushed through a multi-million $ Chinese development in 2 weeks.

Logan City councillors acted illegally when they voted to sack chief executive officer Sharon Kelsey last week, according to their fellow councillor Darren Power.

"I believe she was sacked illegally, that's my feeling on the matter," he said.

Cr Power, who voted against the sacking, also confirmed the council received a letter from the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) warning against any move to terminate Ms Kelsey's position if it was on the basis of her cooperation with the CCC.

The Queensland corruption watchdog has been investigating whether Logan Mayor Luke Smith attempted to unlawfully influence the outcome of council decisions on development applications that would be beneficial to his campaign donors.

Cr Power said he was very surprised other councillors took little notice of the CCC's letter.

"I thought it would scare the pants off a few councillors," he said.

"I thought it was very serious, I thought it had a lot of merit and knowing the situation at hand I thought it would change a few councillors minds but it didn't — it was quickly brushed off."

Cr Power said he eagerly awaited the outcome of the CCC investigation.

"There's a lot of dirty rotten secrets being kept in that council and I can't wait for them to be exposed, it's only I think a matter of weeks for them to all come out, as you can see they're slowly coming out," he said.

Cr Power said there had been "verbal" legal advice on the CCC letter and that one councillor referred the letter to Local Government Association of Queensland CEO Greg Hallam.

He said Mr Hallam "just brushed it off completely".

"[Mr Hallam] said they're [the CCC] acting outside the ordinary, that they're really just overstating their importance."

Today, Mr Hallam told the ABC the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission advised the LGAQ it was lawful for the Logan City Council to make a decision on the CEO's probation.

"The chairman of the CCC had sent me a copy of the CCC letter to the council referred to in media reports," Mr Hallam said.

"Legal advice to me and the council was that the council could make a decision regarding the CEO's probation without fear of action by the CCC."

Cr Smith was not present at last week's council meeting, which voted 7-5 to sack Ms Kelsey at the end of her six-month probationary period.

Today, Cr Smith said he did not receive the letter from CCC chairman Alan MacSporran but was aware other councillors did receive it.

He would not comment on any subsequent legal advice, citing legal privilege.

But he said the decision to sack Ms Kelsey had nothing to do with any matters involving her cooperation with the CCC.

"The decision that was made by council was made on her performance and her performance alone," he said.

The matter had also attracted the interest of Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe.

"I take great interest in any matters that cause disquiet and concern about the operation of councils anywhere in the state," Mr Hinchliffe said.

"These are matters I'm taking great interest in. I have requested advice from my department and in order to ensure that advice is fulsome I know that my department has taken action to correspond with LCC seeking further information."

Mr Hinchliffe said it was not unusual to see differences of opinion within democratically elected groups of people but would not rule out the possibility of replacing the council with administrators.

"I would be very surprised if that was the first thing that was looked at and considered in the circumstances, however I'm not in the position to be ruling anything out," he said.

"I just need to be making sure I get the proper advice based up on the situation that's occurring."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-13/l ... ys/9442694

[Black Orchid]

Sounds like he would do well in Sydney with his Chinese developments.

[Neferti]

QUEENSLAND ....