Education Minister Yvette Berry's former chief of staff Josh Ceramidas was not close with the CFMEU, his lawyer has argued.
The argument was made during a final day of public submissions in the ACT Integrity Commission's investigation into the procurement for an expansion of Campbell Primary School.
Mr Ceramidas' lawyer, Sam Pararajasingham, also sought to discredit evidence given by a former education official, John Green, a pseudonym, who alleged the former chief of staff did not want a Canberra-based company to receive the contract.
The contract was given to Lendlease despite Manteena scoring higher by two separate tender evaluation teams.
The commission has heard allegations of union and ministerial interference in the process by Mr Green. The unnamed official oversaw the procurement and wrote a brief saying the evaluation team's recommendation should be overturned.
The CFMEU and Ceramidas
Mr Green has alleged the CFMEU's dislike of Manteena had contributed to the minister's office telling officials the company was not to receive the Campbell contract. Mr Ceramidas was the chief of staff at the time.
All officials who were alleged to have been told this by Mr Green have strongly denied this as has Mr Ceramidas.
Counsel assisting the Integrity Commission, Callan O'Neill, provided a public submission to the commission last week. He alleged Mr Ceramidas and CFMEU national and ACT branch secretary Zach Smith were closer than acquaintances based on text messages between the pair.
But Mr Pararajasingham told the commission Mr Ceramidas said he only dealt with the union a couple of times a month in his role as the chief of staff.
Mr Smith said, in his evidence last year, he and Mr Ceramidas were not close rather they were acquaintances who moved in the same Labor circles. Mr Smith was the the ACT assistant secretary during the procurement process.
Counsel assisting wrongly said Mr Ceramidas was a member of the CFMEU in its first submission but this is not the case.
Mr Ceramidas ran for Labor at the 2016 election and counsel assisting has alleged his political ambiitions may have motivated him in his dealings with the CFMEU.
But Mr Pararajasingham said this would not have motivated him to engage in any corrupt conduct.
"There is nothing in the evidence to suggest, in my respectful submission that his ambitions were so overpowering that he would engage in corrupt conduct," he said.
Counsel assisting made no allegations of corruption against the CFMEU during last week's submission.
An independent administrator has been appointed to manage the embattled union this week following allegations of criminal activity but there have been no allegations levelled at the ACT branch.
The Canberra Times is not suggesting any link between these allegations and the Campbell Primary School procurement.
Mr Pararajasingham said it was suggested in hearings that Mr Ceramidas was a conduit of information to Mr Smith but this was strongly denied by the former chief of staff.
"That they communicated is not contentious ... there's nothing improper about that," Mr Pararajasingham said.
"Both men deny any impropriety in the nature of that relationship."
Green's reliability
Mr Pararajasingham also argued that Mr Green was not a reliable witness and had changed his version of events over several examinations.
He said Mr Green had initially given evidence to the commission he did not entirely recall certain conversations but as the hearings progressed he started to remember things more clearly. Mr Pararajasingham said this later evidence could not be believed.
Mr Green has previously told the commission he did not tell the whole truth to the Auditor-General when an audit was being conducted in 2021, saying he did not give full details on how the union allegedly influenced the process. He said he did this to protect the reputation of the directorate.
However, Mr Pararajasingham said the evidence given to the Auditor-General was the closest to the truth and Mr Green only sought to change the evidence following the audit report which had negative findings against him.
But Integrity Commissioner Michael Adams KC told the hearing that the account provided by Mr Green to the Auditor-General was "very troubling and unconvincing" when he first read it.
Mr Ceramidas never provided evidence in a public examination all his evidence was given in private.
The public submissions process has concluded. The commissioner has yet to provide a timeline on when a report is expected but Mr Adams did say last week he was a "long way off" making findings.
The investigation began in 2021.
