Underworld figure Mick Gatto has been arrested by Victorian police investigating “alleged financial offences”.<\/p>\n
Victoria Police said in a statement that detectives from Taskforce Hawk executed a warrant at a Mount Martha property this morning.<\/p>\n
“Two people at the address, a man and a woman both in their 70s, were arrested and are being interviewed by police,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
The ABC has confirmed Mr Gatto is the man who was arrested.<\/p>\n
Victoria Police’s Taskforce Hawk is an operation dedicated to investigating criminal behaviour in the construction sector.<\/p>\n
Mr Gatto describes himself as a construction industry “mediator and arbitrator” who helps solve disputes between builders and workers.<\/p>\n
But in a report prepared for a Queensland inquiry into the CFMEU published in February, lawyer Geoffrey Watson SC alleged Mr Gatto had held a “malignant influence” on the CFMEU for decades.<\/p>\n
Mr Watson’s report alleged Mr Gatto received millions of dollars in retainers from builders, to prevent shutdowns on their work sites.<\/p>\n
The report described the payments as a “kind of extortion” paid for by the taxpayer.<\/p>\n
In response to Mr Watson’s allegations, Mr Gatto told Melbourne radio station 3AW he was “not above the law” and had no ties to criminal gangs.<\/p>\n
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