Andrew Clennell and Steve Lewis From: The Daily Telegraph
August 30, 2011 12:00AM
More allegations ... Labor MP Craig Thomson. Source: PerthNow
THE Health Services Union paid tens of thousands of dollars to Craig Thomson in a settlement last year despite him facing an investigation into the alleged use of union funds for prostitutes.
The revelation means the MP received $150,000 from NSW Labor for his legal fees against Fairfax following his dropped defamation action - and tens of thousands more from the HSU in a settlement after the allegations.
Mr Thomson had been suing the HSU for defamation and for an alleged $190,000 in entitlements for leave he claimed he was owed which the union withheld after the credit card allegations came to light.
Mr Thomson is being investigated over his alleged spending on union credit cards, including allegedly hiring prostitutes and making more than $100,000 in cash advances.
The withdrawals from the card, which occurred during Mr Thomson's time as national secretary from 2002 to 2007, formed part of the information the HSU referred to Fair Work Australia in 2008, a year after Mr Thomson entered federal parliament. But last year the union settled the actions Mr Thomson had taken against it, paying him tens of thousands of dollars, sources have confirmed.
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The Daily Telegraph has already revealed NSW Labor spent more than $150,000 on Mr Thomson's legal fees when he dropped a defamation action against Fairfax.
Senior Labor sources have said they paid Mr Thomson's fees amid concerns he would go bankrupt, which would have seen him ineligible to remain in parliament and could have brought down the federal government.
Many union sources are puzzled as to why the Fair Work Australia investigation into the allegations has taken two years, without a result.
Sources said they were concerned the inquiry had not interviewed several people on the Health Services Union's national executive.
In relation to the settlement, one source said: "There were a number of people on the executive who didn't want him to be paid anything."
Mr Thomson's wife, radio newsreader Zoe Arnold, has taken time off from her radio station Sea FM on the Central Coast amid the scandal.
Ms Arnold, who is heavily pregnant, stopped work earlier than planned as she coped with the stress of reading stories about Mr Thomson on air.
