A Melbourne father who conspired to lie to an anti-corruption investigation out of misplaced paternal obligation to help his son's political aspirations will have to pay a $12,000 fine.
Umberto Mammarella, who goes by Robert, admitted conspiring with his son, former state Labor candidate Justin Mammarella, and lying to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission about the purpose of 713 stamped envelopes.
Mammarella senior worked as an electorate officer in the Cairnlea office of former upper house MP Khalil Eideh when it became the centre of a branch stacking scandal to further his son's political aspirations in 2017.
On Thursday he was sentenced to a three-year community corrections order and fined $12,000 by the County Court after pleading guilty earlier this month to conspiring to attempt to pervert the course of justice by telling IBAC the envelopes were for a mail-out for disability service provider Autism Plus.
He hatched the plan with his son, fellow electorate officer Angela Scarpaci and Labor volunteer Jeffrey O'Donnell.
The envelopes were actually intended for voting Labor members in the Melton electorate, endorsing the younger Mammarella's lower house bid.
He also admitted a charge of perjury, lying to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission when he was called as a witness in June 2018.
The 72-year-old's lawyer Daniel Sala told an earlier court hearing the behaviour was "best perhaps characterised as a misplaced paternal obligation".
Under the community corrections order, Mammarella must not commit another offence, cannot leave Victoria without permission and will have to undergo mental health treatment.
Judge Rosemary Carlin on Thursday said the length of the community corrections order was on account of the seriousness of the offending, pointing out that he was the last person to be interviewed by IBAC and therefore had "ample time to reflect on the wisdom and morality" of the lie.
Mammarella was the final person to be sentenced from the investigation, with everyone involved avoiding jail.
