Business Espionage - Top Businessman Bugs Other Top Businessman

Australia - When prominent Melbourne businessmen Grant Custance and David Morrell first crossed paths in 1975 as students at prestigious Geelong Grammar, neither could have foreseen that almost 40 years later they would be locked in a brutal feud involving police, lawyers, tracking devices and crisis management consultants.

The public stoush between the Toorak heavyweights, which dates to a business deal between the two in 2010 that landed Mr Custance in the Magistrates Court, has taken a new twist, with allegations Mr Custance paid for a private detective to shadow Mr Morrell and scrutinise his ''business practices and moral conduct''.
An electronic tracking device was fitted to Mr Morrell's luxury car in March last year, with other plans to ''manipulate and extract information from mobile phones, computers and listening devices'', according to a report prepared for Mr Custance by private investigator and former police officer Damian Marrett. The two-week surveillance was code-named Operation Bulldog and included extensive background checks, company searches and tailing Mr Morrell, who is a buyer's advocate with an extensive list of wealthy and powerful clients. (more)