Hamish Heard
Member for Lara John Eren has refused to bow to Liberal demands that he sign a statutory declaration denying he knew fugitive drug lord and murder suspect Tony Mokbel.
Angelo Kakouros, who ran against Mr Eren at November’s state election, challenged Mr Eren to officially distance himself from a scandal that claimed the scalp of shadow attorney general Kelvin Thomson.
Mr Thomson was forced to resign from Labor’s federal frontbench over a glowing reference he signed for the convicted drug lord.
Mr Eren became embroiled in the controversy after a report he was Mr Thomson’s electorate officer when a colleague, Mimi Tamburrino, was ordered to prepare the reference for Mokbel in 2000. Ms Tamburrino refused to reveal to the Independent who had ordered her to write the reference, used as part of a failed liquor license application.
Mr Eren denied any involvement with Mokbel or the reference.
But he rejected Mr Kakouros’s challenge to sign a statutory declaration.
“I’ve never met the man (Mokbel), I don’t know the man and I had nothing to do with the reference,” Mr Eren said.
“I’m not going to engage with this bloke (Mr Kakouros) who thinks this ridiculous proposition is the only way he can get his noggin in the paper.”
Mr Eren described Mr Kakouros’s attack as “typical”.
“The people of Lara overwhelmingly rejected him in favour of me and now that he’s the candidate for the federal seat of Corio he’s still engaging in grubby gutter politics.”
Mr Kakouros said the reference was the second time a government office in which Mr Eren worked had been involved in “unbecoming” political behaviour.
Municipal inspector Merv Whelan last year found that councillor David Saunderson had used Mr Eren’s electorate office as a cash collection point for developers’ contributions to councillors’ election campaigns. Cr Saunderson, who is Mr Eren’s electoral officer, was later convicted and fined for failing to declare donations.
“It’s worth questioning why Mr Eren’s former office has also become associated with behaviour unbecoming of a politician,” Mr Kakouros said.
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