Former police commissioner and Racing NSW board hopeful Mick Fuller did not declare to the state government his co-ownership of racehorses with two wealthy businessmen who became embroiled in criminal investigations or won lucrative police contracts.
An ABC investigation into Mr Fuller's gambling and racing interests has discovered he submitted no conflict of interest declarations to the government until last year, raising concerns he breached anti-corruption rules.
Mr Fuller was one of NSW's highest-paid public servants, earning more than $665,000 a year as the head of Australia's largest police force from 2017 before retiring last month after a 34-year career in law enforcement.
He is a frontrunner to be picked by NSW cabinet to join the board of Racing NSW, the horseracing operator and regulator, after Sports Minister Stuart Ayres yesterday endorsed him as a candidate "of the highest integrity".
Mr Fuller was among a cadre of high-ranking NSW Police Force (NSWPF) officers — mostly from Sydney's Sutherland Shire — referred to within the force as the "Punters Club" due to their love of gambling, horseracing and rugby league.
From 2015, he and at least five others employed in leadership roles within NSWPF acquired shares across at least four racehorses from high-profile trainer and former drug addict David Vandyke.
Mr Fuller's shares in two of Mr Vandyke's horses — Mad Magic and Once Epona Time — gave him the right to a proportion of any winnings.
But they proved a poor bet — the horses barely made any winnings, while Mr Vandyke became entangled in doping scandals.
Mr Vandyke, formerly named David Hayes, was fined three times since 2015 for banned substances discovered in his racehorses in NSW and Queensland.
The trainer, who had much-publicised past addictions to heroin and gambling, was banned for three years in 1989 after two of his racehorses tested positive for the illegal stimulant known as "elephant juice", etorphine.
Mr Fuller told the ABC he owned 2.5 per cent shares in Once Epona Time in 2019 and 2020 while he was commissioner, and Mad Magic from 2015 to 2017 before he was promoted to the role.
The former top cop and at least one of his assistant commissioners, Scott Andrew Whyte, did not disclose the financial arrangements, even though NSWPF policies declared the racing industry as "high-risk" for conflicts of interests after the Wood royal commission 25 years ago.
Under the NSWPF code of conduct, Mr Fuller was required to make declarations at least every year to the government of any private interests, social activities or relationships which had the potential to, or could be perceived to, influence his decisions.
He only filed a private interest declaration to the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet last year, after he had given up his shares.
The department denied the ABC's request for access to that disclosure.
A former commissioner at the state's police watchdog, Patrick Saidi, called for an independent investigation into what he described as "serious allegations".
"There's very little doubt, given the inherent dangers of involvement in the racehorse industry and indeed the gaming industry generally, that declarations should have been made," said Mr Saidi, the former oversight commissioner at the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).
"Whether it be Mr Fuller or the head of any agency, disclosure is a very important part of maintaining the integrity of an organisation."
He said transparency was crucial, given the gambling and horse racing industries' history of connections to criminals and corrupt public officials.
'Punters Club' linked to Sydney's elite
Mr Fuller and at least five senior NSWPF officials owned shares in Mad Magic and Once Epona Time with leaders of other "high-risk" industries including the liquor, gaming and security sectors, as well as sporting and media identities.
Rugby league legend Ricky Stuart was among the 14 co-owners in Mad Magic, along with Wizard Home Loans founder and former Celebrity Apprentice host Mark Bouris.
Other Mad Magic shareholders included security boss Sami Chamoun, Sydney pub chain owners Chris Feros and Marcus Levy, and Mr Levy's brother, pet care tycoon David Levy.
Former News Corp Australia boss John Hartigan was one of 17 co-owners in Once Epona Time.
He told the ABC he agreed to take on a 5 per cent share in the mare in 2019 because of his "long friendship with many of the police", including Mr Fuller.
But it is some lesser-known co-owners around whom serious conflict of interest concerns have emerged due to their personal relationships with NSW Police personnel, entanglement in criminal cases, or both.
Many of the businessmen had friends in the senior ranks, including horse co-owner Assistant Commissioner Gavin Wood.
One Mad Magic co-owner, David Levy — known to police by the humble nickname “Chicken Dave” — owns a suite of companies including a catering business that was contracted by the NSWPF at the time he joined the Mad Magic syndicate.
Mr Levy’s family are known for their multi-million-dollar businesses, including his dog-kennel chain Pet Resorts Australia, and his family’s luxury car dealership Scuderia Graziani, which sells European sports cars.
His brother and Mad Magic co-owner Marcus Levy also owns the Marvan Hotels pub chain.
David Levy has catered to the NSWPF since 2012 through a food business, which employs a former police officer friend of Mr Fuller.
The ABC can reveal Mr Levy’s company, Ozmart Catering Group Pty Ltd, went on to win a $3 million contract with the NSWPF in 2017, after Mr Fuller became commissioner.
Under the 2017 contract, the company secured a deal to provide tens of thousands of meals to police at major events, NSWPF functions and training for up to the next seven years.
The deal was triple the value of Mr Levy’s catering contract with the NSWPF from five years earlier.
The contract was extended last year and carries a lucrative piggyback clause, meaning any other NSW agency can engage the company without a tender process.
The NSWPF committee that awarded the contract was required to consider whether Ozmart's owners were under investigation by police or a statutory body.
At the time of the 2017 tender process, Mr Levy made headlines when he became the target of a criminal investigation into an illegal asbestos dump at the site of a planned equestrian facility on his property in Arcadia, in north-west Sydney.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority recently dropped charges against Mr Levy, but has ordered him to remediate the site.
It continues to prosecute the owner of an earthmoving business over the incident.
Mr Levy didn't just have friends in senior ranks, he also employed the husband of another high-ranking officer as a manager in his food business.
Former police officer John McCusker, the husband of Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker, has for many years helped run a popular Sydney eatery, the Plumer Road Chicken Shop in Rose Bay, at which Ozmart Catering was previously based.
Assistant Commissioner McCusker is a friend of Mr Fuller and is a frontrunner in the race to become a deputy to the state's new Police Commissioner, Karen Webb.
Neither Mr Levy nor NSW Police responded to the ABC's questions about whether conflicts of interest were declared in the tender process, nor did Assistant Commissioner McCusker answer whether she declared her husband's employment to the NSWPF.
In response to questions about the contracts and the racing syndicates, Commissioner Webb said, "any alleged misconduct within the NSWPF will be examined by Professional Standards Command".
"Where required, we will strengthen policy if it is established there is a need to do so," she said in a written statement to the ABC.
Mr McCusker told the ABC neither he nor his wife had anything to do with the contracts and they did not financially benefit from them.
He said the questions unfairly damaged his wife's reputation.
Mr Fuller declined an interview request but told the ABC he was not required to declare his shares in the racehorses, in what he described as a "social" racing syndicate.
"It has not been established I have breached any policy," he said in an email to the ABC.
Mr Fuller said he "never personally benefited" from the business dealings of Mr Levy, who he said he knew but had not "seen or spoken to … in six years".
Last November, the ABC lodged a freedom-of-information request into the tenders awarded to Ozmart Catering, which is now officially owned by David Levy's wife.
In response, Mr Fuller ordered a taxpayer-funded review of the procurement process by consulting firm Deloitte.
The review said "nothing came to [Deloitte's] attention to suggest that NSWPF did not materially comply" with its procurement policies, apart from one instance of an officer failing to submit a declaration form.
However, the report said Deloitte's assessment excluded "verification of potential conflicts of interest".
The report did not mention Mr Fuller, whose sign-off was not required in the tender process.
Mr Fuller said the Deloitte review and an internal NSWPF investigation into the contracts had "cleared him of any wrongdoing".
"These reviews unequivocally found that I had no influence or control of the first contract in 2012 or its rollover in 2017," Mr Fuller said.
"The independent Deloitte's reviews [sic] has clearly shown I had NO involvement or knowledge of this contract in 2017 or 2012.
"Additionally the contract process applied proper legislative scrutiny, thoroughness and independent advisors."
Fuller said declarations unnecessary
Mr Levy was not the only co-owner in Mad Magic to become entangled in a criminal investigation.
Another businessman, E-Group Security owner and former rugby league player Sami Chamoun, was caught up in a high-profile NSW Police Fraud Squad investigation into his dealings with the Parramatta Eels.
Mr Chamoun owned shares in Mad Magic with senior police at the time of the 2016 investigation into his involvement in salary cap breaches by the club.
He was never charged but in 2017, NSW Police told a court Mr Chamoun agreed to sign a fraudulent contract with the Eels at an inflated price so the club could pay a player, via E-Group Security, in breach of his salary cap.
The whistleblower in the case, former Eels CEO Scott Seward, was one of only two people charged over the fraud and the only one found guilty. He walked free with a good behaviour bond and no conviction.
The investigation took place before Mr Fuller became commissioner.
In his written response to the ABC, Mr Fuller did not address his racehorse co-ownership with Mr Chamoun but said he did not have "personal knowledge of, or a friendship with all of the syndicate owners".
"I did not scrutinise each owner via police records, as it would be obviously illegal," he said.
"The presumption that a social syndicate is corrupt or necessary of declaration is equivalent to requiring declaration when joining a touch football team or a golf club, particularly if a developer was part of the club.
"Anything less is derogatory to Australian Thoroughbred Racing."
Mr Fuller and Punters Club officers faced strict NSWPF rules around conflicts of interest.
All NSWPF employees must declare any private interests, including shareholdings and social and sporting activities, which have the potential to, or could be perceived to, interfere with or influence their public duties.
NSWPF guidelines explicitly instruct all employees to assess any potential or perceived conflicts of interest which could be caused by their associations with or obligations to sporting bodies, clubs or associations.
Separately, police are also required to declare associations with people involved in activity that is "incompatible" with the NSWPF, including people suspected to be engaged in criminal activity.
Of that rule, Mr Fuller said: "It's my understanding and advice this type [of] social activity or ownership has never meet [sic] the standards for a declarable association."
His successor, Commissioner Webb, did not respond to specific questions from the ABC about whether Mr Fuller and other police may have breached NSWPF policies and procedures.
The ABC asked whether the NSWPF or an oversight body had investigated any of the matters, or other allegations related to the gambling or racing interests of Mr Fuller and the NSWPF racehorse co-owners.
"I am aware that matters have been investigated by an external oversight agency," Commissioner Webb said in a statement.
"If new information comes to light, that will also be investigated."
The LECC's predecessor, the Police Integrity Commission (PIC), investigated Mr Fuller in 2016 over a separate allegation regarding his involvement in the horseracing industry, but found no substance to the complaint.
The LECC told the ABC it reviewed the investigation last year after receiving a similar allegation, and was satisfied with the PIC's findings.
A NSW government spokesperson said it was advised the LECC took "no further action".
The ABC understands the LECC review did not examine Mr Fuller's horseracing syndicates or the catering contracts.
Former LECC commissioner, Mr Saidi, said the state government must set up a special body to investigate the racing industry connections of senior police.
"A proper and adequate investigation should be carried out so that either their conduct is condemned if it occurred and if it's wrong or inappropriate, or they may be proven to be completely innocent and above-board," he said.
He described the LECC as "under-resourced" and incapable of carrying out such a comprehensive probe, unless the government provided it with extra funding.
Mr Saidi left the LECC in acrimony in 2020 after falling out with his fellow commissioners.
Fuller 'fails the pub test', MP says
Mr Fuller deflected questions about his shares in racehorses in the NSW parliament last year.
At a parliamentary estimates hearing, NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge asked if Mr Fuller "sought any advice about whether owning racehorses or being involved in the ... gambling industry may present a conflict of interest in your job as a police commissioner".
"Are you suggesting that people who own racehorses are not ethical?" Mr Fuller responded.
"There are two rules: Judges can own them and politicians can own them, but poor, battling police commissioners cannot do anything. I will just stay at home."
Mr Fuller and the NSWPF did not provide names of the Vandyke-trained horses or their past owners in response to questions on notice, nor did they provide the details of a third horse that was earlier co-owned by Mr Fuller, Half a Danish.
Responding to the ABC's revelations, Mr Shoebridge said Mr Fuller's insistence he did not breach any rules "comprehensively fails the pub test".
"The fact that the most highly paid bureaucrat in the state, a former commissioner of police, can't see a conflict of interest when it's staring him in the face, I think that's a very troubling matter," he told the ABC.
"On any view of it, it's a breach of his obligations to list actual and potential conflicts of interest."
He said NSWPF employees must be banned from involvement in gambling and racing, and backed calls for an independent investigation.
"There should be a red line here," Mr Shoebridge said.
Mr Fuller is now seeking several jobs in the private sector, after a failed attempt by Racing NSW chief executive and Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) chairman Peter V'landys to recruit him to the ARLC board last year while he was still police commissioner.
The NSW government blocked the appointment after a public outcry over whether it posed a conflict of interest with Mr Fuller's position.
Senior officers face scrutiny over disclosures
When she was selected as Mr Fuller's successor, Commissioner Webb promised to take the force in a "new direction" as well as build a more diverse and inclusive organisation.
But the revelations about the Punters Club cast a cloud over the first female commissioner's plans to reshape her leadership team.
Another key figure in the Punters Club is Gavin Wood, a well-connected friend of Mr Fuller. His promotion to Assistant Commissioner last year sparked anger among current and former officers.
Senior NSWPF employees speaking on the condition of anonymity told ABC Investigations that Assistant Commissioner Wood played a key role in assembling the horseracing syndicates.
Racing records show he still has shares in at least two other racehorses — Pinnacle Star and Jakkalberry Finn — which, under trainer David Vandyke, have raked in more than $150,000 in prize money.
Mad Magic only made $10,900 in prize money, while Once Epona Time did not race while Assistant Commissioner Wood and Mr Fuller owned shares.
A freedom of information request to the NSWPF failed to locate any private interest disclosures lodged by Assistant Commissioner Wood between 2014 and 2020, when he co-owned both Mad Magic and Once Epona Time.
NSWPF Counter-Terrorism Commander, Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton, also owns a share in Jakkalberry Finn and was a previous co-owner in Once Epona Time.
He told the ABC he never met or spoke to Mr Vandyke, and said he had not breached the NSWPF’s conflict of interest rules.
Other senior police employees who owned shares in one or both horses with Mr Fuller included:
- Grant Williams, a senior Channel Nine executive and executive producer of A Current Affair, who was hired as the NSW Police executive director of public affairs in 2018, after Mad Magic stopped racing. He had 2.5 per cent shares in both Mad Magic and Once Epona Time
- Detective Chief Inspector Peter Faux, from the secretive State Intelligence Operations Command, with a 2.5 per cent share in both Mad Magic and Once Epona Time
- Assistant Commissioner Scott Andrew Whyte, from the Office of the Commissioner, Mr Fuller's former chief of staff. He had 2.5 per cent share in Once Epona Time, which he told the ABC he did not declare.
Assistant Commissioner Wood did not respond to the ABC’s questions but Assistant Commissioner Whyte, Detective Chief Inspector Faux and Mr Williams provided statements to the ABC which said they did not breach any rules or engage in misconduct.
Assistant Commissioner Whyte and Mr Williams said they were not members of any punters clubs.
Assistant Commissioner Wood was moved aside from his responsibility leading the Human Resources Command to the Capability, Performance and Youth Command late last year, after the ABC raised questions with NSW Police about his horseracing interests.
The NSWPF did not respond to a question from the ABC about why his role was changed.
Mr Fuller said he had "no personal involvement" in the promotion of Assistant Commissioner Wood last year and rejected allegations from former and serving police of favourable treatment towards members of the Punters Club.
"Sour grapes occurs occasionally when people don't achieve what they have hoped in life," he said.
"That will unfortunately continue in my retirement. I am comfortably retired and wish the new commissioner the best dealing with police politics."
David Levy, David Vandyke, Sami Chamoun and other racehorse co-owners did not respond to the ABC's questions.
One co-owner in Once Epona Time, former News Ltd CEO and chairman John Hartigan, said in a statement he had "not received any financial or other benefit" during his "long period of friendships" with some NSWPF syndicate members, dating back up to 25 years.
Mad Magic co-owner Mark Bouris also told the ABC in an email he "never received nor sought any benefit from any police officer" or the other syndicate members.
Mr Bouris said that as an ambassador for the NSW Police Legacy charity, he accepted speaking and presenting roles, for which he did not accept payment but rather requested donations to the organisation.
Read the full response from former NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller
Read statements from Assistant Commissioner Scott Whyte, Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton, Detective Inspector Peter Faux and Grant WilliamsRead the eTendering contract award notice details for OzMart Catering GroupView the NSW Police contracts and tender documents for OzMart Catering Group
