12. Flitner Gives Account of the Ramifications of the Rampant Corruption Within the VLSB

Rule O’Flaw

In this powerful and deeply personal conclusion to his testimony, Victorian lawyer Thomas Flitner delivers a searing indictment of the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (VLSB+C) — describing a coordinated campaign of regulatory abuse designed to eliminate him from the profession. Interviewed by legal advocate Shivesh Kuksal, Thomas connects the final dots: unlawful appointments, misuse of public funds, and a legal system weaponised to punish those who resist. 💥 In This Video You’ll Learn: 🧾 Bogus Delegations, Unlimited Power  Thomas reveals how individuals like Gordon Cooper acted under the guise of Board authority without lawful appointment, issuing directives and interfering in his firm — all allegedly shielded by Howard Bowles, the powerful regulator behind many of these moves. 💸 $3.2 Billion, No Oversight  The Public Purpose Fund, meant for legal aid and access to justice, is described as a slush fund—paying private contractors like Nick Curran, QCs, and firms engaged to crush small practices, with zero external scrutiny. ⚖️ External Management = Sabotage  • Curran allegedly ignored clients, refused communication, and ran up $200K+ in charges  • Confidential materials were seized and returned damaged  • Curran reportedly told Thomas he had “no rights” while seeking personal reimbursement 🧠 Destroying Small Firms by Design  Shivesh argues the system is rigged to eliminate sole practitioners—burdening them with impossible compliance standards while streamlining audits for large firms, ultimately eroding community legal access. 🧍 Isolation and Professional Exile  From cut-off complaints systems to whisper campaigns, Thomas explains how the regulator ensured that even if he returned to practice, his business, reputation, and livelihood would be lost forever. 🧑‍⚖️ Silencing Through Legal Muscle  In just two months, the VLSB allegedly spent nearly $500,000 to fund suppression proceedings — using two KCs, juniors, and teams of lawyers — all to stop public disclosure of misconduct.  Meanwhile, public services are being slashed, and no one is watching the regulator. 📢 Why This Matters Thomas is no longer the only voice. As Shivesh notes, the same officials — Neylon, Duggan, Curran, Bowles, Cooper — appear in testimony after testimony from lawyers across Victoria. Their alleged tactics follow a clear pattern:  ✅ Improper appointments  ✅ Billing abuse  ✅ Suppression of dissent  ✅ Weaponised regulation  All funded with public money, and carried out without oversight. 📌 If you believe in justice, the rule of law, and institutional integrity — share this video. 💬 Comment below if you or someone you know has faced abuse of power by legal or state authorities. Your voice matters. 📢 Subscribe for more whistleblower stories and investigations into legal corruption.

Transcript

00:00I mean, I've had plenty of experience with it, and that would be the subject of a different conversation at another time,

00:09but I've also read a number of very serious testimonies, and I've spoken with dozens of lawyers,

00:21and it's basically the same thing, and it's the same people.

00:24It's the Nalons, the Gordon Coopers, Nick Curran features quite frequently.

00:33Gordon Cooper, again, tried to pretend to you that he was an employee of the board when he was basically Howard Bowles' personal henchman.

00:42And not appointed correctly.

00:43He was never appointed.

00:45And he's writing to me letters telling me what's what.

00:47Exactly, because Howard Bowles there tries to control everything and pretend like he can have these delegations made

01:02and people appointed, for which, again, there's evidence that he approves the money that Nick Curran and other people...

01:13So he approves the $3.2 billion fund?

01:16Well, he approves expenses out of it, yes.

01:19Expenses out of it, yes.

01:20Yes, and there is no oversight to any of that.

01:26What the external managers effectively do is they come in, they get appointed, and they can charge whatever they want.

01:36The authorization, even if it is legitimate, says that one person personally is appointed at this rate.

01:43They then bring an army with them, and everybody gets paid.

01:49They don't do any of the work for which they're purportedly appointed.

01:54No client has ever benefited from the Victorian Legal Services Board's intervention.

02:01In fact, they purposely make a point to sabotage the clients' cases as well,

02:06because that's a way to get more complaints generated against the lawyers,

02:11against whom they desperately need to manufacture complaints.

02:15And then, effectively, all that work and effort of weaponizing the regulatory functions

02:29through the use of these contractors is then built out of the Public Purpose Fund

02:35without anyone actually checking anything.

02:38And to top it all off, after the Public Purpose Fund pays them through Baal's authorization,

02:45they then send you a letter that they will seek reimbursement for me.

02:50Personally.

02:51And you never had the right to tax his bills, the cards, and you never...

03:02He was basically contemptuous of you in the communication.

03:08That's correct.

03:09Every time I raised issues with him about what he was doing and what he wasn't doing,

03:13it just was contemptuous.

03:15I'm the manager.

03:15I've got ultimate power over you.

03:18You're nothing.

03:19And then they made you sign this undertaking that while he was the manager,

03:25you wouldn't challenge any of his decisions.

03:28So, after that, he had free reigns.

03:31So, this is...

03:33I mean, it's astonishing that it's happening so plainly.

03:37And I think the worst aspect of all of this is that

03:40almost everybody in the profession has some idea that this is happening.

03:46Yeah.

03:47But nobody does anything about it.

03:51One barrister told me two years ago that this is done on purpose by the legal board

03:56because they don't want small, single practitioners out there.

03:59It's too onerous for them to check on their trust accounts.

04:02They just wanted limited that large firms can charge and they only have one trust account

04:07that they need to audit, i.e. driving the legal market and profession to fewer and fewer practitioners,

04:15therefore upping the price for the public, as long as they still keep getting their money in for their fund.

04:22And with me and with others, they've destroyed their business so that even if they are successful,

04:26at the end of recovering their practising certificate, there's nothing for them to go back to it.

04:32They're heartbroken.

04:33I'm not at the age where I can start 21 years back and start again like that, Suresh.

04:39They know that.

04:40And not just that, now you will have a number of people in your area who have been let down after your phone was engaged.

04:49So the goodwill has gone and the whisper campaign which has gone out there is like I'm a bad apple

04:55because the phones weren't answered either.

04:57The messages were like hundreds of messages.

04:58He just left the phone and just let it ring.

05:04In the current?

05:05In the current.

05:05He didn't answer emails, didn't let anything.

05:07And you've made complaints about him to the commission?

05:09No, they don't care.

05:10I'm a nobody.

05:13I'm a nobody in our legal system.

05:18Just cop it and disappear.

05:21Okay, well, sooner or later they'll need to answer for what they're doing.

05:28If enough people confront them.

05:31And that's what we're trying to do here.

05:33We're trying to get everybody who's experienced these issues with the commissioner to come out and be counted.

05:46Because this is not just about you.

05:51Corruption harms everybody.

05:53These people, all the people that allow them to continue with what they're doing,

06:04then have a right to demand that they look the other way when those people break the laws.

06:12So the way corruption works is that it breeds more corruption.

06:17And it affects everybody, ultimately.

06:21So in a state that's cutting numerous jobs from public services,

06:31you have, in the suppression proceeding, where they try to stop us from revealing the information,

06:38just over, what, two months.

06:44They had, you know, two king's counsel, two junior barristers, an army of solicitors.

06:55And they've spent close to half a million dollars on that matter in just two months.

07:00And at the same time, the government is cutting a number of jobs.

07:06And the state is going bankrupt.

07:08Yeah.

07:09So all of this money that they've been left with is money that should go to legal community centers,

07:20should help people.

07:22Legal education, judges also, you know, studies.

07:28Yeah.

07:29But it's spent on legal fees, generally, and on certain people that have targeted individuals.

07:36And it's a very corrupt model because it's hard to see how there would not be kickbacks

07:42because of the, you know, fast and loose way in which the appointments take place.

07:50And, I mean, these people, the sort of things that they do, it's not like kickbacks are beneath them.

07:57So thank you for doing this, Thomas, and hopefully others will follow.

08:03Yeah.

08:03Thank you for your time, Suresh.

08:04And I hope others come out as well.

08:06Thanks.

08:07Good night.

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