An ex-union supremo's "secrecy" in allegedly ordering cameras be covered and a receipt shredded points to his intent to destroy documents possibly relevant to a royal commission, prosecutors say.
David Arthur Hanna, a former Queensland president of the CFMEU, is on trial in the Brisbane District Court after allegedly dumping seven tonnes of documents in April 2014 ahead of the trade union royal commission.
"There is evidence from his conduct that he considered that the process of the removal of documents from the union office should be accompanied by a degree of secrecy," crown prosecutor Glen Rice QC said in closing submissions on Thursday.
The trial has heard allegations Hanna had the documents disposed after becoming aware the royal commission would focus on the CFMEU.
He instructed colleagues to take dozens of boxes of documents from the union's Brisbane office to his home, where he allegedly asked staff to try to burn files, the jury has heard.
When this failed, the boxes were collected in a truck and dumped at a tip near Ipswich, witnesses have said.
One witness testified Hanna had asked him to cover up CCTV cameras at the union's office while he loaded the boxes into a horse float.
Another told the court Hanna asked her to then get rid of what she believed was a receipt for the cost of "burying" documents with an excavator.
"The covering of the (CC)TV cameras and the directing of the destruction of the receipt concerning the document disposal ... were both directed to the same purpose," Mr Rice said.
"To ensure that there would be no or at least a restricted record in the CFMEU of what would was done in relation to this activity of disposal.
"He was aware of the substantial risk that the documents disposed of may be required in evidence."
In closing his case, Hanna's lawyer Mark McCarthy claimed the Crown's case was speculative, with the disposal of the documents "completely unremarkable" and authorised.
There was nothing to suggest the "old records" would be of interest to the royal commission, Mr McCarthy told the jury.
"(The Crown case) depends on you having a cynical view, taking the worst possible view of this evidence," he said.
"The boxes were checked before they left and they were not part of the (royal commission) notice. That was the end of the story."
The prosecution rubbished suggestions Hanna ordered CCTV cameras be covered to protect workers' privacy.
"If this was an innocent disposal of records, there was no credible reason to cover the cameras or have chosen that particular time to do it," Mr Rice said.
Judge Julie Ryrie began summing up the case on Thursday afternoon ahead of the jury retiring to consider their verdict.
Australian Associated Press
