Labor links Newman to FBI crime probe
Premier Anna Bligh launched an extraordinary attack on her opponent's character, alleging the conduct of his family's business could land him behind bars.
The FBI is reportedly investigating Majella Global Technologies, the company of Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman's brother-in-law Seb Monsour, to determine whether it breached US trade secret laws. The company was formed to sell disaster recovery technology, just nine days after floodwaters receded in Brisbane in 2011.
The FBI is probing the possible theft of US military technology.
Ms Bligh tabled several documents in State Parliament yesterday, saying the paper trail led straight to Mr Newman's door. Under parliamentary privilege, she read out Mr Newman's home address before suggesting he could meet the same fate as disgraced former Labor minister Gordon Nuttall. "When it happens on your side you need to condemn it," she said. "When Gordon Nuttall happened we referred him to the CMC. I gave evidence against him in court. "Those people are behind jail (sic) and Campbell Newman will end up there as well."
Labor has been asking questions about the Newman-Monsour family's interests since Mr Newman announced his plans to contest the premiership from outside of Parliament. Ms Bligh told Parliament the "complex web" of company structures showed Mr Newman's wife, Lisa, helped establish the company in question, and was a financial beneficiary of its parent company. "Lisa Newman's financial interests are her husband's financial interests. That's how it works in this country," Ms Bligh said.
Earlier, Mr Newman tried to distance himself from his in-laws' business interests. "I don't know anything about his business interests," he said. "I'm not involved and neither is my wife." In a statement released after Ms Bligh's tirade, Mr Newman said she had "lost all credibility in her desperate bid to cling to power".
In a statement, Mr Monsour said Labor had engaged in political opportunism.
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