Officers from Queensland's corruption watchdog have executed a search warrant on Logan City Council's headquarters south of Brisbane.
Councillor Darren Power said a Crime and Corruption Commission officer interrupted a council budget meeting on Monday about 1pm and told the 11 councillors present he had a search warrant.
“We were able to get a copy of the warrant up on the board, we had it on the projector," he said.
“There were eight grounds, but 45 areas they were actually looking at."
Cr Power said some “areas of concern” related to the watchdog's Operation Belcarra, an investigation into the conduct of candidates involved in last year's local government elections for the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Ipswich and Logan city councils.
Cr Power said some “areas of concern” related to the watchdog's Operation Belcarra, an investigation into the conduct of candidates involved in last year's local government elections for the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Ipswich and Logan city councils.
They were very extensive. Right from the start was all the stuff from Operation Belcarra, it included The Lakes development and Carol Avenue," he said.
According to an Operation Belcarra report released in October, $40,500 was donated to Logan Futures campaign fund by SKL Cables, which owns a block of land on Carol Avenue, Springwood.
A development application was received by the Logan City Council in 2015 to build a 15-storey building on the site.
The report also indicated developer Liansheng Yue, who owns a development project at Carbrook called The Lakes, donated $63,300 to Logan Futures.
Cr Power said "employment issues and such at the council" were also mentioned.
“After a number of questions, we decided it wasn’t appropriate to continue on with budget discussions ... it was only an introduction to the budget,” he said.
“We went back to our offices ... I then saw about six officers, about 4pm, come out of [mayor Luke Smith's] office and then basically that is where we are at.
“I saw them carrying stuff but I don't know what they took in there, they may have taken their own stuff in there."
Cr Power said he believed the investigation was going to go on "for some time".
“I think residents are going to be quite concerned at the amount of investigation they are actually going through, the amount of areas they are addressing, it is going to be a lengthy investigation,” he said.
Cr Smith issued a statement saying he would happily assist with any investigation.
This story first appeared on brisbanetimes.com.au
- with AAP
