Craig "no friends" Thomson
Photo © 2012 AAP One/Alan Porritt
The ongoing Craig Thomson saga took another turn when his home was raided by police this morning.
NSW police executed a search warrant on behalf of Victorian police at Mr Thomson's home at Bateau Bay on the NSW central coast.
The former national secretary of the Health Services Union (HSU) told reporters outside his house the warrant was in relation to "the broader inquiry into the national office of the Health Services Union".
Mr Thomson said police had taken a couple of documents, which he had volunteered.
"Can I say at the outset, I've done nothing wrong and we are fully co-operating with police in relation to the Health Services Union investigation," he said.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott earlier said it was "very important” that Thomson co-operated fully.
Mr Abbott also praised police for their work in the case.
"The police have shown a lot of diligence in trying to ensure that low paid workers' money is not misused."
Fair Work Australia (FWA) is taking Mr Thomson - the former Labor MP who was suspended from the party in April - to the Federal Court, alleging 37 breaches of workplace laws and 25 breaches of HSU rules when he was national secretary from 2002 to 2007.
The former Labor MP, now sitting as an independent on the increasingly crowded crossbench, faces fines of up to $450,000 if the court finds, amongst other things, he spent thousands of dollars of union funds on prostitutes.
In September 2011, NSW police's fraud squad - examining whether Mr Thomson misused HSU credit cards to pay for prostitutes, travel and cash advances - found no evidence of an offence under NSW law.
They sent the file on to Victorian police where the HSU's national finances were based. Victorian police have now been investigating the matter for a year, but have yet to press any charges.
Mr Thomson said he had not been charged with anything.
"It was part of the routine procedures that we fully expected," he said.
He urged the media to respect the privacy of his family and those living in his neighbourhood.
He said there was not much more he could add, given the investigation was ongoing.
Under intense questioning by reporters, Mr Thomson also said he did "not expect to be charged in relation to this matter".
"I expect that at the end of the day, the position I have taken, where I spoke for over an hour in parliament, which I have said in the last four years that I have done no wrongdoing, will be vindicated," he said.
Faced with a barrage of questions from reporters, Mr Thomson cut short his press conference and went back inside his house.
His lawyer Chris McArdle has lashed out at the way police handled the raid.
"Obviously, as is the normality in these things, the target of the search warrant was taken completely by surprise," he told ABC News.
"The scandalous aspect of this is that press arrived almost at the same time as the police and a camera crew was outside at almost the same time as the police.
"In other words, Mr Thomson knew nothing about this but every journalist in the country did."
Mr McArdle queried whether the purpose of the raid was the administration of justice or a continuing campaign against Mr Thomson.
"We are supremely confident that there will be no charge brought before a court by the police against our client."
Mr McArdle said police took examples of Mr Thomson's handwriting.
with AAP
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