|
|
|
|
|
Andrew TheophanousAndrew Charles Theophanous is an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1980 to 2000, and an independent member from 2000 to 2001. He subsequently achieved notoriety in 2002 when he was convicted on fraud charges and sentenced to three and a half years in prison, later halved by the Court of Appeal. Theophanous was first elected as the Labor member for the Melbourne electorate of Burke in 1980. He switched to the new safe Labor electorate of Calwell in 1984. Theophanous became heavily interested in immigration matters, and from 1989 to 1993, was Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration. In 1993, Theophanous was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Community Services and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health. In December, he was instead appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Human Services. In March 1994, this was again changed, when Theophanous was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Paul Keating. During 1998 and 1999, Theophanous came under suspicion for being involved in migration fraud, and the National Crime Authority launched an investigation, codenamed Operation Legume. Firstly, Theophanous' phones were tapped - somewhat controversially, as he remained a sitting MP. When this failed to produce any evidence, the NCA launched a sting operation, with the assistance of an undercover police officer, who was given the fake name of Frank Cheung. By June 2000, it was public knowledge that Theophanous was under investigation by the National Crime Authority. On June 28, Theophanous publicly attacked NCA head John Broome and accused the organisation of misusing its powers. Not long after, it became clear that Theophanous would not retain Labor pre-selection to retain his seat at the 2001 election. He unsuccessfully attempted to install his brother Theo, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, as his replacement. He subsequently resigned from the party on October 18, 2000, and announced that he would serve out his term as an independent. He attempted to recontest the seat himself at the 2001 election, but polled only 9.6% of the vote and was soundly defeated by the Labor candidate, Maria Vamvakinou. Theophanous, Andrew
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|