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• Whistleblower draws judge's ire on evidence  

TOBACCO whistleblower Fred Gulson has been severely criticised by a Federal Court judge over his role in a bitter fallout with partners in a tea-tree oil business.

Justice Steven Rares was highly critical of Mr Gulson's evidence. He said he would not accept it unless it was corroborated independently on any issue between Mr Gulson and other witnesses. He found Mr Gulson had been "deliberately misleading or unreliable".

The judge said Mr Gulson exhibited erratic behaviour because of a psychiatric condition about the time he summarily sacked his company's marketing manager, Jim Gobert. . . .

In the case before Justice Rares, Mr Gulson and others were sued by John Bax, a former partner in the BRG Corporation, which was involved in the production, distribution and sale of tea-tree oil and products. Mr Bax refused to work with Mr Gulson after Mr Gobert's sacking.

A witness told the hearing that Mr Gulson had made loud and racially based comments in a restaurant about a woman in Muslim dress, saying she and others looked like terrorists. He began smoking a large cigar in the non-smoking area and refused to put it out.

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