John Woodman on his bike on St Kilda Road.Credit:The Age
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) tabled its Operation Sandon report on Thursday,which found Woodman made more than $1 million in payments to former Casey mayors and Liberal Party members Sam Aziz and Geoff Ablett – including cash payments in suitcases and shopping bags – in return for support for lucrative planning decisions.
A later email announced that Aziz would also attend the press conference with Woodman and that Serey was the group’s main contact point.
Sandon found Woodman sought to influence state planning decisions,showering Labor and the Liberals with donations and political spending totalling almost $1 million over nine years – the bulk of it never disclosed – and targeting local MPs and candidates from both major parties.
Woodman and associates funded the campaigns of multiple councillors and parliamentary candidates,including more than $30,000 to Serey across the 2014 and 2018 state election campaigns when she ran as a Liberal candidate.
Susan Serey fights back tears at a Casey council meeting in 2020. The council was about to be sacked.Credit:Justin McManus
She was among a group of political and business figures that IBAC made adverse comments about in the Sandon report.
The press release purports to be on behalf of “a group of victims whose lives have been ruined forever by IBAC’s reckless and dishonest actions during Operation Sandon”.