MP heads for green benches
Western Metropolitan MP Martin Pakula (pictured) will stand for the safe Labor seat of Lyndhurst in a move expected to bring him into the lower house. The Lyndhurst byelection is on April 27 and Mr Pakula must quit his upper house seat before then. Labor’s Tim Holding held the south-eastern seat with a 14 per cent margin before stepping down in February. A new upper house MP is expected to be chosen in six weeks.
Missing teen home safe
A Wyndham Vale teenager who went missing last Friday has returned home. Chloe Athanasakos, 19, made contact with friends and returned home on Monday. Police issued an appeal for information about Chloe’s whereabouts on Sunday after she was last seen leaving a friend’s Hoppers Crossing house about midnight on Friday.
Millions in fraud alleged
A Point Cook man has been charged with fraud following an investigation into the collapse of a Brooklyn transport company. The Viking Group was put into liquidation in 2011. Police arrested and charged the man, 52, on Friday with three counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception which amounted to more than $33 million, and one count of attempting to obtain a $53 million financial advantage by deception.
Maserati stolen, found
A stolen Italian sports car was found at the back of a service station in Laverton North yesterday. The $300,000 silver 2012-model Maserati was stolen from a City Road carwash about 11am on Monday. Police said they believed the keys had been left in the car, which was later found at a service station on Fitzgerald Road, Laverton North, about 12.20pm. Investigations continue.
