Official backs Shorten on slush fund claim November 24, 2014 - 1:37PM A trade union official has sworn an affidavit rejecting claims federal Labor leader Bill Shorten warned a colleague not to blow the whistle on a controversial slush fund. Robert Kernohan has told the royal commission into union corruption he raised concerns about the Australian Workers Union fund with Mr Shorten in 1996, only to be told to think about his future with the Labor Party before going public. But one of the two men Mr Kernohan says witnessed the discussion has now disputed his claims. AWU organiser Sam Beechey, in an affidavit submitted by lawyers for Mr Shorten, says Mr Kernohan "never ever" had a discussion "with me, or in my presence" about the slush fund. The submission also states that Mr Shorten, who in 1996 was a young AWU official, had no recollection of the conversation. "He does not believe he made comments of the kind attributed by Mr Kernohan," it says. The royal commission is investigating the AWU slush fund operated by Bruce Wilson, the one-time boyfriend of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Counsel assisting the royal commission Jeremy Stoljar in October concluded Ms Gillard did not know about alleged criminal activity by Mr Wilson, but did receive money from him for renovations to her Melbourne home in the 1990s. Mr Stoljar also found aspects of Ms Gillard's professional conduct as a solicitor "questionable," when she provided off-the-books advice on setting up the fund. Ms Gillard has since asked the royal commission to reject the findings.