Face of Nation : A Labor staffer has tearfully admitted involvement in the cover-up of a branch-stacking scam which allegedly saw electorate office resources spent on the preselection campaign of an aspiring Victorian politician.
Angela Scarpaci, 28, cried as she pleaded guilty in the County Court on Tuesday to one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice and one of perjury over her involvement in the 2017 “cash-for-stacks scandal”.
The court heard Justin and Umberto Mammarella, as well as Scarpaci and O’Donnell, agreed to lie to the state’s corruption watchdog about the use of resources from Mr Eideh’s office. Scarpaci then went on to lie under examination by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission about the purpose of 713 stamped envelopes addressed to Melton Labor branch members.
She said the stationery was for an electorate office mail-out to raise awareness of autism for service provider Autism Plus. Scarpaci’s lawyer Emily Clarke said her client, who had come from a troubled home, had gone along with the plan out of a “sense of duty and loyalty” to the Mammarella family.
The young woman had first met Justin Mammarella 10 years earlier when she interned at Melton local council while he was mayor. “They were a political family and they opened doors for her in terms of meeting other people to engage in the youth work she was interested in,” Ms Clarke said.
Judge Liz Gaynor adjourned the pre-sentence hearing so a comprehensive psychological evaluation could be made of Scarpaci, who she described as potentially “very vulnerable to a power situation”.
