Ex-MP Phil Edman 'abused' $78,000 allowance to fund exotic lifestyle of strippers and travel, CCC finds
A former WA Liberal MP has resigned from the party just hours after WA's corruption watchdog found he engaged in serious misconduct by using his taxpayer-funded electoral allowance to pay for visits to a strip club, speeding fines and interstate travel to meet women for sex.
Key points:
- Phil Edman was a former Liberal member of the WA Upper House from 2009–17
- The CCC found he "abused" an allowance supposed to pay for electorate expenses
- Many of the examples were during a time he said he was separated from his wife
In an interim report, the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) revealed Phil Edman, who was a member of the Legislative Council between 2009 and 2017, used his $78,000 annual allowance for Christmas functions, online purchases, clothing, lotto syndicate payments, home insurance costs, private yacht expenses and meals with family and friends.
The investigation into Mr Edman was sparked by an earlier CCC report into an alleged rorting scandal by former public servant, Craig Peacock when he was WA's trade commissioner in Japan.
That report revealed Mr Edman contacted Mr Peacock , who was a close friend, to help organise a visit to a Tokyo bathhouse known as a "soapland" for Mr Edman and another MP in 2015.
MP hooked up with women online for sex
In the report, the CCC found Mr Edman "created opportunities for interstate travel to facilitate intimate relationships with various women" and he typically paid for some or all of their expenses, including airfares, accommodation, food and entertainment.
"Mr Edman claimed these expenses as electorate allowance deductions," the report said.
The CCC said Mr Edman created aliases or pseudonyms to meet women through online adult dating sites and had a paid a subscription to a website called Seeking Arrangement, which promoted itself as a matchmaking site for attractive girls and wealthy benefactors.
"Some generous payments by Mr Edman for women he met were claimed by him as electorate allowance expenses," the report said.
Some of the women gave evidence to secret CCC hearings and one who had a four-month relationship with Mr Edman, who was called Ms Z, said she agreed he would pay for sex.
The arrangement was later changed so that he would pay some of her bills instead of giving her cash.
In his evidence Mr Edman pointed out that these arrangements were "between consenting adults and were private matters".
"The reason the CCC is reporting on this matter is because Mr Edman … misuse[d], his electorate allowance to pay various bills on her behalf," the CCC said.
Mr Edman had other trips to Darwin and Canberra, which he claimed were parliament-related, but during which he met at least two other women he had contacted online.
"When Mr Edman's travel paid by the state is examined, a pattern emerges," the report said.
"There is a visit to some organisation or place to give the facade of electorate business when the main purpose is personal pleasure."
Mr Edman's telephone was bugged as part of the CCC investigation and some of the intercepted calls revealed his concerns, particularly about one trip to South Australia when he visited various wineries.
"That's what's going to happen and that [CCC Commissioner John] McKechnie will expose it all," he was recorded saying.
"You know it'll be on the news you know … 'wine trip this and that'.
"That's the main thing I'm getting prepared for is that friggin' wine trip (laughs)."
Unaudited allowance system a 'serious' risk
Mr McKechnie said the current system of electoral allowances for parliamentarians posed "a serious misconduct risk".
"It's about $7.4 million a year to the state. It is unaudited. It is unaccounted by the members," he said.
"Because it is unaudited, and because it is unaccounted, nobody is able to say whether the example we have given is a single example, or whether it's widespread.
"It is simply impossible to say because no state entity knows the answer to that question."
Mr McKechnie suggested that the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal, which he said had all the powers of a royal commission, conduct an inquiry to get "clarity" on the issue of electoral allowances and detail exactly what they could and could not be used for.
Edman denies wrongdoing
In a statement issued by his lawyer, Mr Edman said he "categorically denies any unlawful or corrupt purpose in his tax treatment of electorate allowances".
"He concedes that on occasion private expenditure was misallocated as expenditure for electorate-related purposes," the statement said.
The statement said misallocation of expenditure between public and private purposes "was the result of insufficient attention and time being spent on financial affairs during his time in office, and not an intentional attempt to improperly reduce any taxation liability".
"Mr Edman devoted his full time and attention to discharging the duties and obligations of his office and took great pride in doing so," the statement said.
It also said the investigation had brought to light circumstances "arising out of Mr Edman's private life" which had caused "anxiety and embarrassment" both to him and others close to him.
"The CCC report details Mr Edman's relations with several unnamed females," the statement said.
"This was at a time when he was temporarily separated from his wife and was not therefore a breach of any private trust."
Private dining of the 'Black Hand Gang'
The CCC report detailed what it called a "loose grouping" of Upper House MPs, who referred to themselves at the "Black Hand Gang", who would have twice-yearly "seminars" and dine together in a private room.
Mr Edman claimed almost $18,000 on his parliamentary allowance for the dinners, at various upmarket restaurants including Matilda Bay and Lamonts between December 2013 and June 2016, despite being reimbursed all but $800 by the other members.
He also on at least one occasion used his electorate allowance to pay for a lotto syndicate for the "gang".
Other personal expenses paid for by Mr Edman included a berth at the South of Perth Yacht Club for his yacht, named "Prime Minister".
He also paid more than $10,000 for vehicle registrations and speeding fines incurred by himself, his wife and Ms Z; and trips to Rottnest Island and Leeuwin Estate for electorate and business staff costing more than $6,000.
There were also four visits by Mr Edman to what the CCC described as an "exotic strip club" in Northbridge.
At least two of these visits involved other people who were entertained in the club's "champagne room", for which he claimed $2,908.50 from his electorate allowance.
"In the Commission's opinion, the expenditure of state money — the allowance — for this purpose was an abuse of his office," the CCC report found.
Edman to be expelled from Liberals
WA Opposition Leader Liza Harvey said she was appalled at the behaviour of Mr Edman outlined in the CCC report.
"I am shocked that a Member of Parliament would behave in such a fashion," she said.
"It is not the standards that I or the Liberal Party support."
She said the party would assist the Government in any way to reform the electoral allowance system and make it more transparent.
"I have spoken to Sam Calabrese, state director of the Liberal Party, and have told him to immediately begin the process of expelling Mr Edman from the party," she said.
It is understood Mr Edman has since resigned from the Liberal Party.