High-ranking bikies allegedly established labour hire companies and planted union delegates on major worksites, culminating in a shocking act of intimidation at a Brisbane construction site.
BMD human resources manager Steve Thomas has been called to the stand following bombshell revelations made at the inquiry yesterday as BMD general manager Rob Pickard gave evidence.
The Inquiry heard a pair of Comanchero bikies flew from Melbourne to Brisbane to visit a construction site where they allegedly threatened to burn a man’s house down and kill his children because he was a CFMEU member.
SEE HOW THE DAY’S HEARING PLAYED OUT BELOW
MORE QUESTIONS OVER JUNE 5 CCTV
3:44PM: Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda asked Mr Thomas to explain “why Georgiou and the state of Queensland have copies of that footage but BMD doesn’t?”
“I didn’t keep it,” Mr Thomas said.
Mr Thomas said he viewed CCTV footage of the June 5 altercation sometime after it occurred but was seeing the footage of the lead up to the event for the first time at the Inquiry this week.
Mr Thomas was then shown the CCTV depicting himself and Mr Pickard walking to the Centenary Bridge site from the nearby shopping village.
The two men walked from the shops down Cinnamon Road about 12:30pm on June 5.
Like Mr Pickard before him, Mr Thomas said he had “no idea” why the pair stopped and waited at a traffic light for a minute, even after getting two green signals.
Mr Thomas also denied that he and Mr Pickard were waiting for Gary Samuel, Bemir Saracevic and Krstomir Bjelogrlic and Mark Ahern, who were following behind, to catch up to them.
Mr Thomas told the inquiry that it was important for BMD executives to visit the Centenary Bridge site to check in on the workers and thank them.
Despite this, he could not identify a man on CCTV footage whom he waved to as he entered the site on June 5.
When asked why he was visiting the worksite on June 5, Mr Thomas said “We were walking the whole job”.
The Inquiry concluded hearings for the day.
Mr Thomas will return to the witness box tomorrow and face further questioning on his whereabouts and knowledge of the June 5 incident.
Hearings resume at 10am.
QUESTIONS OVER CCTV VISION OF JUNE 5 INCIDENT
3:06PM: Mr Thomas said he did not witness the June 5 incident involving Cody Raymond, Gary Samuel and Comanchero members Bemir Saracevic and Krstomir Bjelogrlic and Mark Ahern.
But he was involved in responding to the police request for CCTV of the incident months later.
According to emails shown to the Inquiry, Georgiou employee Thom Baker, who conducted the investigation into the June 5 altercation, told police to reach out to Mr Thomas for copy of the CCTV.
Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda asked Mr Thomas why BMD engaged criminal lawyers to respond to the police request for CCTV.
“That was a referral from our legal department,” Mr Thomas said.
He clarified that when he was forwarded the police request by Mr Baker, he passed the request on to the legal team.
Patrick Quinn then responded to QPS, stating that BMD did not have access to footage prior to August 2024 on its online portal.
This Commission of Inquiry obtained the footage.
Mr Thomas said he tried to locate the footage at the time of the police request in November 2024.
“I took all reasonable steps to try and locate that footage at that time, including seeking assistance internally,” he said.
“I had not downloaded it and I wasn’t able to locate the footage.”
Mr Thomas conceded that someone else has been able to find the footage in 2026 to assist the inquiry.
He did not know who.
HR BOSS NEEDED PRIVATE SECURITY DUE TO CFMEU CONCERNS
2:57PM: BMD general manager for human resources and industrial relations Steve Thomas was provided private security due to safety concerns involving the CFMEU, the Inquiry has heard.
Mr Thomas told the Inquiry BMD lacked the resource capacity to deal with the CFMEU.
He said BMD was not a tier one builder and its foremen had limited to no experience dealing with permit holders.
“We were never, in my mind, in a position to not facilitate (site entry),” Mr Thomas said.
“We had a threshold we deemed appropriate in order to facilitate (entry permits).”
Mr Thomas was also present at a meeting with Labor’s Transport Minister Bart Mellish and Transport and Main Roads deputy director-general Julie Mitchell.
He said Mr Mellish and Ms Mitchell were supportive of BMD exploring private security measures to cope with CFMEU activity at the Centenary Bridge site.
Mr Thomas said AWU Victorian state secretary Ronnie Hayden recommended BMD hire the Host Group security firm, owned by Gary Samuel.
He said after a phone call with Mr Samuel, he believed Mr Samuel had good knowledge of politics, industrial relations and experience in the construction industry through his labour hire jobs in Victoria.
“He indicated he worked on a few other jobs in Victoria … Westgate Tunnel, and we thought why not, lets give it a go,” Mr Thomas said.
Mr Thomas said he was unsure how the conversation turned to Mr Samuel’s company being hired as a security service in Queensland.
He said around mid 2024, safety concerns involving BMD executives were raised.
Mr Thomas said he believed the CFMEU knew where senior BMD executives lived.
He said CFMEU campaign flyers were dropped in streets where executives lived, including his own address.
Mr Thomas was placed under security.
GM ACCUSED OF ‘TURNING BLIND EYE’ TO BIKIE CONNECTIONS
2:21PM: Mr Pickard now faces questions from Chris O’Grady acting on behalf of the CFMEU Administration.
He has agreed with Mr O’Grady that BMD’s relationship with the CFMEU had improved under the administration.
He also confirmed he understood that former CFMEU leaders Michael Ravbar and Jade Ingham, along with several other officials, had been removed from the union by the administration.
“I put it to you that whatever was the appropriateness of the knife to the gun fight analogy that was raised by the Commissioner back in mid 2024, that analogy has no place in the construction industry at this point in time,” Mr O’Grady said.
“Correct,” Mr Pickard replied.
Mr Pickard also agreed that the reported threat of “I’m going to f***ing burn your house down c*** and kill your kids” made to Mr Raymond was unacceptable, serious and potentially criminal.
Mr Pickard also confirmed he was aware police investigated the incident but were hindered due to BMD’s failure to provide CCTV.
He also agreed that BMD should have ended its contract with Host Group if there was evidence connecting it to the Comanchero gang.
Host Group remained contracted by BMD until mid 2025- a year after the 2024 incident.
Mr O’Grady then grilled Mr Pickard over BMD’s lack of investigation into the incident and its failure to act, particularly after it was alleged that the threats were made by a member of the Comancheros.
“Now, you agree with me that a failure to properly investigate an incident of this seriousness, in effect, is turning a blind eye to it,” Mr O’Grady said.
“I’d agree,” Mr Pickard responded.
Mr O’Grady asked Mr Pickard if that, when he reviewed the CCTV footage of the June 5 incident, Mr Samuel’s role was clear, including that he made no effort to stop the altercation.
Mr Pickard agreed.
Mr O’Grady asked if the main reason Mr Pickard didn’t review the footage was because he already knew what happened.
Mr Pickard denied this.
“Even though BMD is no longer using Host – it continues to engage Host nationally,” Mr O’Grady said.
“Not that I’m aware,” Mr Pickard replied.
Mr Pickard has now been excused from the witness box.
His colleague, BMD human resources manager Steve Thomas, who was also present on the day of June 5, 2024, has been called to the stand.
GM FACES QUICK-FIRE GRILLING OVER JUNE 5 INCIDENT
1:16PM: Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda has asked Mr Pickard a final series of questions to put on record his position about the various circumstances on June 5.
Mr Pickard denied being at the BMD head office with Mr Samuel on the morning of the incident.
He disagreed that Mr Samuel told him he was picking up Bemir Saracevic, Krstomir Bjelogrlic and Mark Ahern from the Brisbane Airport and bringing them to the job site.
He also denied telling Mr Samuel he would meet the group there.
Mr Pickard said he didn’t remember what he spoke to Mr Samuel about when he called him around this time as he travelled to the worksite.
He denied that this phone call was Mr Samuel telling him he had collected the men and that they were on their way to Centenary Bridge.
Mr Pickard said he agreed he went to the sushi shop for lunch, but couldn’t recall standing next to his colleague Steve Thomas.
He denied that the multiple phone calls he and Mr Thomas made to Mr Samuel at this time were to tell him they were at the sushi shop.
He denied that the four men then met up with him and Mr Thomas at the sushi shop.
Mr Pickard also denied that the six men discussed what was about to happen at Centenary Bridge.
He further denied making a plan with them for he and Mr Thomas to walk ahead and ensure the coast was clear for Mr Raymond to be approached.
At about 12:30 Mr Pickard and Mr Thomas walked back to the worksite from the sushi place.
They stopped at a set of traffic lights, despite them turning green two times.
The four men then followed along the same road.
Mr Pickard said he was unsure why he and Mr Thomas didn’t cross the road and waited there for about a minute.
But he denied it was because the pair were waiting for the other men to catch up.
CCTV shown to the Inquiry showed that as Mr Pickard and Mr Thomas walked to the fenced area where Mr Raymond worked Mr Thomas pointed out Mr Raymond’s location.
Mr Pickard disagreed that this was for the benefit of the four men walking behind them.
Mr Pickard and Mr Thomas then spoke to the traffic controller at the gate.
Mr Thomas again pointed behind them in the direction of the four men.
Mr Pickard was asked if he instructed the traffic controller to put up his stop sign to prevent the four men from being interrupted.
He denied this.
He accepted that after Mr Samuel, Mr Saracevic, Mr Bjelogrlic and Mr Ahern approached Mr Raymond and during the altercation that occurred outside the gate, no security guards intervened.
He did not know why the controller put his stop sign down afterwards.
Mr Pickard confirmed he met with Mr Samuel later that afternoon at the BMD head office.
He denied that this meeting was to exercise damage control after the incident was reported by Mr Raymond.
He denied requesting to view CCTV to see his own exposure in the lead up to the incident.
Mr Pickard further denied trying to shift attention away from Mr Samuel’s involvement in the incident.
He denied that he was trying to protect Mr Samuel with his evidence to the Inquiry.
He again confirmed that he had no idea the three men tied to the Comancheros were visiting the site on June 5 and denied witnessing the altercation.
Mr Pickard said at the time he accepted Mr Samuel’s explanation that Host Group had no affiliation with the Comanchero men who visited that day.
“He assured me those people had no involvement with his business … and he maintained that position,” Mr Pickard said.
The Inquiry will now break for lunch until 2pm.
Mr Pickard will return to the witness box to be cross examined by Chris O’Grady acting on behalf of the CFMEU Administration.
‘SOMETHING FISHY GOING ON’: EMPLOYEE TEXTS REVEALED
12:32PM: Text messages between Georgiou employees Gareth Davie and Quinn Murray have been shown to the Inquiry.
The two men were texting following the June 5, 2024 incident.
Mr Davie messaged Mr Murray saying:
“Mate he brought in blokes in civvies.
“Something fishy going on mate.
“RP (Rob Pickard) came from the first cafe 30 seconds before GS (Gary Samuel) and his mates.”
Mr Murray then tells Mr Davie:
“Rob P told me the CFMEU leaked Cody; address … which I don’t believe him for one sec.”
Both Mr Davie and Mr Murray are scheduled to give evidence this week.
Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda asked Mr Pickard if he remembers a phone call he had with Mr Davie.
Mr Pickard did not.
Mr Gisonda then relayed some of Mr Davie’s testimony about the call.
“You gave him a little bit of background into why there were so many security guards and what happened, and what eventuated to cause the interaction,” Mr Gisonda said.
“In particular that Mr Raymond had threatened Mr Samuel a week prior, and Mr Samuel was quite upset about the threat and felt that Mr Raymond needed to be put into place.
“Does that refresh your memory as to what you said to Mr Davie in that phone call on the fifth of June?”
Mr Pickard responded: “No, not particularly.”
“He says that you then said that Mr Samuel had brought some people that he knew up from Melbourne to ensure Mr Raymond got the understanding not to do it again,” Mr Gisonda continued.
“Do you remember saying that to Mr Davie?”
Mr Pickard said: “I don’t recall that.”
Mr Gisonda asked if Mr Pickard ate at a cafe in a shopping village on June 5 and if that was the same cafe Mr Davie referred to in his text message.
Mr Pickard could not remember where he ate on June 5.
Mr Gisonda then showed the Inquiry Mr Pickard’s bank statements while held transactions for “The Trustee for Hazy” – a sushi shop at the village.
BMD human resources manager Steve Thomas, who accompanied Mr Pickard to the Centenary Bridge site on June 5 shortly before the Comanchero members arrived, also had a bank transaction for the sushi shop.
Mr Gisonda then showed Mr Pickard the bank statement for Comanchero member Krstomir Bjelogrlic who also purchased food at the sushi shop that day.
Mr Pickard said he did not eat with Mr Bjelogrlic that day.
Mr Gisonda pointed out that, according to the sushi receipts, both Mr Pickard and Mr Thomas bought food 11 minutes before they walked back to the Centenary Bridge site.
Almost immediately after purchasing the sushi, both Mr Pickard and Mr Thomas call Mr Samuel.
Minutes later, Mr Bjelogrlic ordered sushi.
Mr Pickard, who was shown Mr Bjelogrlic’s sushi receipt, said he did not know Mr Bjelogrlic was at the shop.
“I didn’t know him,” Mr Pickard said.
Mr Pickard said he couldn’t recall seeing Mr Samuel.
BMD’S $100K SECURITY INVOICES
11.57AM: Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda KC has now presented the Inquiry with invoices from two security firms: Host Group owned by Gary Samuel and Concentric Concepts owned by Grant Killen.
Mr Killen’s company specialises in domestic violence protection.
His company was engaged to offer protection to senior BMD executives.
One invoice totalled over $100,000.
Invoices also show BMD reimbursed Host Group for accommodation.
Emails between Mr Samuel and Mr Pickard showed BMD also paid for flights for Mr Samuel and one of his employees Ali Dava between Melbourne and Brisbane.
Mr Gisonda has presented phone records for May 15, 2024 showing calls and text messages between Ali Dava and Comanchero member Bemir Saracevic and between Mr Dava and Mr Samuel.
On the same date Rob Pickard, BMD general manager currently on the stand, contacted Mr Samuel.
He told the Inquiry it was usual for him to be in regular contact with Mr Samuel.
In November, a member of the Queensland Police organised crime unit had requested information from the Georgiou investigation into the June 5 incident between Cody Raymond and Comanchero members Bemir Saracevic and Krstomir Bjelogrlic.
Information requested by QPS included all CCTV footage of the Centenary Bridge site for June 5 and details of all Host Group employees.
BMD lawyers responded to QPS.
The response stated that BMD could not provide the CCTV footage as it was not available.
Commissioner Stuart Wood KC asked how this was possible, as the Inquiry had obtained a significant amount of CCTV footage of the June 5 incident.
Mr Gisonda said the footage had been provided by BMD’s project partner Georgiou.
‘TAKING A KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT’
On August 14, 2024, two months after the incident involving the Comanchero gang and Mr Raymond, Mr Samuel emailed BMD.
In this email Mr Samuel told BMD he was providing a response to an ABC reporter about the June 5 incident.
He again denied any connection between the three men and his security company Host Group.
Mr Samuel also accused the CFMEU of being “behind” a smear campaign against his company.
Georgiou – BMD’s joint partner for the bridge project – conducted an investigation and interviewed traffic controllers and other employees about the June 5 incident.
Despite other workers agreeing with Mr Raymonds version of events, the investigation concluded that there was no evidence of who the men were.
One worker also commented that it appeared Mr Samuel had enjoyed the altercation.
Another said he recognised two of the men as being present at the site on May 15, 2024, again accompanied by Mr Samuel.
Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda KC has presented flight details showing Bemir Saracevic and Krstomir Bjelogrlic flew from Melbourne to Brisbane on May 15, 2024.
Commissioner Stuart Wood KC has said he understood the rationale behind Mr Samuel’s actions.
“It makes sense for Mr Samuel to do this,” Commissioner Wood said.
“It might be quite unlawful, but you could understand why he would do this.
“He’s sort of taking a knife to a gun fight, and he wants to improve his capacity to compete with the tactics that the CFMEU are using.
“He is, in his mind ‑ the police are not helping, the ABCC has been captured, WHSQ has been captured by the CFMEU.
“I’m not saying it excuses him ‑ but it’s a perfectly rational explanation for what he did, which may itself be quite unlawful, perhaps even criminal, but ‑ depending what he knew and what he organised.”
‘MEMBER OF PUBLIC’ COMING TO SITE
10.57AM: The inquiry is now hearing about the events of June 5, 2024 from the perspective of Gary Samuel.
Mr Samuel is not present at the Inquiry, but was interviewed later that year after the incident.
Those interview notes have been presented to the Commission.
According to the notes, Mr Samuel said some of his people “made comments to him about a crane operator video recording and making calls, talking about details of where security guards were positioned and plans of where they would be positioned and how many”.
Mr Samuel suspected Mr Raymond was videoing other workers and security personnel on site and calling external people to discuss the positioning of security guards.
Mr Samuel also alleged that on May 30, 2024, Mr Raymond told him to go to the car park and stated he knew where Mr Samuel lived, which he took as an act of intimidation.
Mr Raymond has denied being aggressive or intimidating on May 30.
In relation to the June 5 incident, Mr Samuel said he was on “alert” that day due to a heavy CFMEU presence the month prior.
He claimed to receive a tip-off that “a particular person” was coming to the Centenary Bridge site.
He refused to name the person, referring to them only as a “member of the public”.
“The tip-off was about me not supporting my workers, so they, the members of public, were coming to do so,” Mr Samuel said.
Mr Samuel said the “member of the public” had received reports that a security guard had been threatened.
“My assumption is that because Cody Raymond is known to be CFMEU affiliated, and the threats to the young guard are allegedly coming from an off-site third party affiliated with the CFMEU, the young security guard is somehow considered to be affiliated with the members of the public, and if he has called this person to come to site is a warning to Cody,” Mr Samuel alleged.
Mr Samuel then claimed he accompanied the group of three members of the public – who were Comanchero members Bemir Saracevic and Krstomir Bjelogrlic and former Comanchero treasurer Mark Ahern – to the site to see if the security guard in question was one of his men.
An altercation occurred during which Mr Raymond alleges Mr Saracevic threatened him.
Mr Samuel, in his interview, flatly denied a connection to all three men.
He said: “I have no relationship or association with any of the members of the public”.
Mr Raymond reported the June 5 incident directly to Mr Pickard and Steve Thomas – BMD’s human resources manager.
Mr Pickard told the Inquiry that he told Mr Samuel to leave the site while BMD investigated the incident.
He confirmed that BMD were made aware by Mr Raymond that Mr Samuel was with the group.
QLD CONSTRUCTION INFILTRATED BY BIKIES
10.27AM: The Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang hatched a plan in 2023 to infiltrate Queensland’s construction industry by establishing companies run by bikies and installing union delegates on worksites, the Inquiry has heard.
Counsel assisting Eddy Gisonda, the lawyer leading evidence at the CFMEU Commission of Inquiry this week, told Commissioner Stuart Wood KC that in early May 2024, intelligence agencies received reports of “significant telecommunications traffic” between Victorian security firm boss Gary Samuel and Comanchero member Bemir Saracevic.
“And at that same time, intelligence agencies received reports that first, the Comanchero motorcycle gang had installed union delegates on construction sites in the state of Victoria,” Mr Gisonda said.
“Two, the Comancheros had taken measures over the preceding 12 months to establish their own companies that could operate in the construction industry in Victoria, including most specifically labour hire companies.
“And third, Victorian members of the Comancheros had travelled to Queensland in the months prior to May 2024, with the aim of achieving those two stated objectives in the state of Queensland as well.”
Mr Gisonda presented ASIC documents of companies and copies of enterprise agreements between those companies and the CFMEU and the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) in Victoria.
Gary Samuel’s security company Host Group was hired by BMD to provide private security guards at the Queensland Centenary Bridge project in Jindalee.
The Inquiry yesterday heard that Comanchero members flew from Melbourne to Brisbane on June 5, 2024 to visit the site.
They were allegedly personally escorted by Mr Samuel.
A CFMEU member and crane operator at the bridge project Cody Raymond was allegedly threatened by the Comanchero visitors.
Host Group has denied connections to the Comanchero gang.
BMD general manager Rob Pickard, who was also onsite on June 5, has denied knowing that the Comanchero members were visiting that day.
However, CCTV footage tracked him arriving shortly before the group and his phone records showed several communications with Mr Samuel prior to their arrival.
Mr Pickard continues giving evidence today.