Former Victorian Labor minister Adem Somyurek is not going down without a fight after his explosive sacking from Daniel Andrews’ front bench and the Labor Party.
In an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun, Somyurek said he would not take the punishment for his alleged branch stacking lying down.
“I won’t let that stand. We will be going down the legal path, I can guarantee you of that. This is not going to stand,” Somyurek said.
Somyurek was forced out of the party after a 60 Minutes/Age report alleged he used his own cash and the help of parliamentary employees to create fake branch members and amass political influence.
Somyurek, who denies the branch stacking allegations, was further caught in covert recordings using sexist and homophobic language to describe his colleagues.
Factional allies Robin Scott and Marlene Kairouz were also forced to quit the front bench, although they have vowed to clear their names.
The recordings were made in the office of a staffer of federal backbencher Anthony Byrne.
“I just … I’m still flabbergasted. I don’t know what went wrong. I just … I think he’s not well is all I can say,” Somyurek said.
“You’ve got to not be well to do this to someone who’s been so loyal to you. In fact, the only reason why I was there was to protect him.”
Somyurek hinted he thinks a lot of people in Labor had a hand in the destruction of his political career, and he plans to expose them.
“I have my views but let’s just wait until the court processes are under way - let’s just see how far it went up the chain,” he told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“Believe me, the message to those out there is: I’m not stopping, right? We will be going all the way, going through the discovery stage. They can run but they can’t hide.”
Somyurek said he accepted the way he spoke about fellow minister Gabrielle Williams was unacceptable, but denies he is an “industrial-scale branch stacker”.
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