A senior official of the construction union has admitted he gave one of his organisers, now facing blackmail charges, an illegitimate redundancy payout of more than $32,000.
The ACT branch secretary of the CFMEU, Dean Hall also conceded to the royal commission into trade union corruption he could have taken allegations Halafihi "Fihi" Kivalu was pocketing cash payments from companies to the police.
The commission already has heard evidence Kivalu, who is on bail, demanded thousands of dollars in exchange for giving businesses work in the national capital.
Mr Hall told a hearing of the commission in Sydney on Thursday he asked his organisers at a meeting if they knew about Kivalu's actions, but they hadn't.
It was an "error" of his workers not to tell him of claims, which they have since revealed to the commission, against their colleague, .
"I'm quite upset they didn't tell me," Mr Hall said, arguing he was in Cuba in May and mobile phone coverage was limited.
In a dig at the commission's activities, Mr Hall wished in hindsight he had access to phone taps and people's bank accounts.
"I didn't know about these things," he said.
But Mr Hall did concede he was briefly shown a list of payments and construction sites on June 22 by formwork company owner Elias Taleb, showing money Kivalu had demanded.
Mr Hall said he told Mr Taleb to go to the police, but admitted "in hindsight, yes" he should have confronted Kivalu about the claims.
When asked by counsel-assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar why he didn't take the allegation to police, Mr Hall said: "I suppose I could of".
He said he would have dismissed Mr Kivalu and reported him to police if there was clear evidence during his tenure, noting his actions were "totally wrong".
"When I heard the evidence of Mr Kivalu (at the commission in July) it was one of the worst things I've ever heard," he said.
Mr Hall later revealed he was wrong to make Mr Kivalu redundant in November 2014.
He wanted to get rid of the lead-organiser because his performance was waning, but Kivalu wished to resign instead.
Due to his "heritage", Kivalu was very concerned about the perception within his family and community if he was fired.
"It was a save-face issue," Mr Hall said, conceding it was "not a very smart thing for me to do".
Kivalu previously told the commission he resigned from his position due to personal reasons on November 10, but claimed to not know why he received a redundancy payment of $32,267 a day later.
Mr Hall agreed the CFMEU's procedures need improvement and he wants them locked in by June 2016.
The branch was considering using an independent lawyer to provide advice.
The hearing continues.
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