AFL clubs implicated with security firm linked to Finks bikie gang

On Thursday, this masthead revealed how MA Services has faced claims of exploiting its migrant workforce and allegedly harassing female staff.

It is also at the centre of a secret offshore security deal funded by the Albanese government and involving the Finks bikie gang, the allegedly corrupt Nauruan President David Adeang and a controversial operation to guard the deportees— known as the NZYQ cohort– sent by Australia to the small Pacific island.

The detainee operation involves Australia paying Nauru up to $2.5 billion over 30 years, of which up to $40 million a year will go to paying for Australian private security contractors on Nauru.

The Greens on Thursday secured support for a Senate inquiry into the Albanese government’s use of Nauru as an offshore border security outpost, a move likely to see MA Services endure parliamentary scrutiny.

In particular, the committee will examine payments to contractors, subcontractors and third parties, and integrity around the system, with a report due by June.

In its statement posted online on Friday, MA Services for the first time acknowledged its role in the Nauru deal, claiming it “considered providing security services to Nauru Cohorts Project and whilst considering the opportunity had several meetings with the Nauruan Cabinet”.

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The statement claimed MA has “decided not to pursue the opportunity” but that “an ex-staff member developed relationships with the cabinet and decided to pursue the opportunity themselves”.

That ex-staff member is Tim Jones, a bikie gang associate who has previously described online his close ties to MA Services. Jones was, until recently, a senior MA Services executive. The MA statement also said the firm had robust governance controls and would co-operate with any investigations.

On Thursday, Greens senator David Shoebridge used question time to attack Labor in Parliament for “indirectly funding the criminal bikie gang, the Finks, through dodgy contractors like MA Services”.

Shoebridge also asked why MA Services had won multimillion-dollar security contracts to guard federal agencies and the nation’s anti-corruption watchdog.

Labor senator and Foreign Minister Penny Wong responded that the government had “zero tolerance” for corruption.

The controversy involving MA Services has now drawn in the AFL, with internal MA Services files showing the company devised a “confidential” plan to offer sponsorship to the Hawks, Demons, Eagles, Lions and Bulldogs on the proviso the clubs handed the firm a total of almost $2 million in cleaning and security contracts.

In the MA Services internal “confidential” spreadsheet detailing its plan to win work from AFL clubs, the sponsorship of each club is listed by MA Services as an “investment” alongside the value of the “direct work opportunity” in the form of cleaning and security contracts MA Services intended to secure from each club in return for its sponsorship. For a total “investment” of $800,000 across the five clubs named, MA Services’ spreadsheet predicts it will win “direct work opportunities” in terms of cleaning and security contracts worth $1.9 million.

A review of MA Services’ social media, along with briefings from company insiders, confirms MA Services eventually struck deals with the Demons, Lions, Bombers and Hawks, although the final sponsorship and contract figures are not publicly available. MA Services no longer sponsors the Lions, who have also reduced the scope of MA’s contracts with the club.

The move by some AFL clubs to cosy up with MA Services stands in stark contrast to the decision of Geelong’s home ground, Kardinia Park, which cut ties with MA Services after investigations uncovered evidence the firm was using unlicensed subcontractors to conduct work or supplying non-existent or “ghosted” security guards.

MA’s alleged misconduct at the Cats’ home ground adds to that exposed by this masthead on Thursday, with The Age revealing the firm had faced years of persistent allegations from company insiders of serious wrongdoing involving systemic mistreatment and exploitation of staff, including women. Those claims are further supported by internal documents and public court cases.

So-called contra deals, in which a contract is won by a supplier alongside its promise to give the contractor a financial or other benefit, are generally viewed as corruption-prone by anti-corruption agencies and sporting integrity experts because they can fuel conflicts of interest, anticompetitive behaviour and lead to the awarding of contracts to a supplier with a dubious track record. While there is no suggestion these deals were in fact corrupt, two AFL industry insiders who have worked for clubs said they were both deeply uncomfortable with contra deals because they involved members’ money and the inherent risk of corruption.

But an AFL spokesperson didn’t answer specific questions, saying in a statement that “in all sports across the globe, sponsorships associated with providing goods or services to clubs or players are common” and that “AFL clubs understand their obligations around integrity”.

One of Australia’s leading anti-corruption experts, CEO of Transparency International Australia Clancy Moore, called on the AFL to safeguard the league from sponsors facing serious integrity questions by requiring clubs to undertake appropriate due diligence.

“It’s mind-boggling that multibillion-dollar sporting codes like the VRC, AFL and AFL teams might not have been undertaking this type of due diligence,” he said.

Moore also called for a thorough investigation into MA’s ties to the Nauru security operation and the Finks bikie gang.

Governance expert Andy Schmulow had concerns over the commercial arrangements between MA Services Group and the AFL clubs and the Victoria Racing Club.

“If you have a financial donor that is getting a significant degree of quid pro quo” there is an integrity risk, he said.

Schmulow, an associate law professor at the University of Wollongong, also accused the clubs of poor governance and “failing to conduct adequate due diligence”.

“Just accepting a donation or sponsorship from a company linked [via an ex manager or subcontractor] to an outlaw motorcycle gang is a major problem for them.”

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