A witness at the trade union royal commission has been warned to stop protecting people after a trail of chat messages revealed conversations about an alleged "secret mission" to deliver confidential information to the construction union.
Maria Butera, a senior manager with construction industry superannuation fund Cbus, was warned by Commissioner Dyson Heydon after she denied knowledge of a scheme to give fund member details to the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.
"You have got to think of your own position in this matter," Commissioner Heydon said.
"The time for protecting other people has ended."
Ms Butera has told the commission she did not know about her staff member, Lisa Zanatta, taking a file containing the phone numbers of fund members to the CFMEU's Sydney office in July, 2013.
Ms Zanatta has admitted lying to the inquiry about the July 29 delivery after being caught out with credit card and taxi records.
She has since been sacked from Cbus.
On Tuesday, Ms Butera was shown chat messages retrieved from Ms Zanatta's laptop.
On the morning of July 29, Ms Butera messaged Ms Zanatta asking: "Everything okay?"
Ms Zanatta replied: "Yes thank you. Done. Delivered."
Ms Butera said she could have "just been asking her if everything is okay".
An irate Commissioner Heydon interjected, saying: "That's a comical answer, frankly, Ms Butera".
Counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar said Ms Butera knew about Ms Zanatta's "secret mission" to fly to Sydney from Cbus's Melbourne office with the files.
Ms Butera maintained her denial and said the messages "could have been about anything".
Ms Zanatta had messaged Ms Butera the previous Friday, saying NSW CFMEU secretary Brian Parker was expecting a call after arrangements were made to "drop off information" to his personal assistant.
Ms Butera replied: "Done. He understands completely and is committed to using the information very carefully."
Ms Butera rejected offers to change her evidence to the commission, saying she had told the truth.
The commission has heard the CFMEU used the contact information to call employees of a Queensland construction firm it was pursuing over unpaid superannuation entitlements.
Mr Parker gave evidence after Ms Butera.
Mr Parker has previously denied receiving the information and said he cannot recall what conversations with Ms Zanatta or Ms Butera were about.
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