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While the KordaMentha report was triggered by allegations of branch stacking, it also identified other activities deemed to be gravely detrimental to the best interests of the party.

The report found Mr Muthyala had paid for other peoples memberships, but The Age is not suggesting the other people named were involved in this activity.

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The investigation was launched after The Age and Sydney Morning Herald revealed allegations in August of extensive branch stacking centred around Mr Bastiaan, who resigned from the party soon after the story broke.

The report found a high number of instances of party membership records being accessed after hours and by unauthorised persons. A key culprit found to have been behind this activity was a staff member for federal MP for Deakin and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, who was not one of the four people set to be punished.

The log-in credentials assigned to the individual was used to access the partys membership records 288 times in 2017 and 949 times in 2018, the report found.

Branch stacking involves powerbrokers organising large numbers of people to join the party to influence key internal processes including preselections.

The review also found evidence of warehousing, where party members are recruited to branches using false addresses to achieve an internal party outcome. About 220 members were warehoused over the past five years, the review found, including about 45 per cent of members in the Deakin electorate in 2017.

The Age previously reported the practice of warehousing appeared to be used in the Ringwood branch located in Mr Sukkars electorate. The party is considering whether to make it more difficult for new members to vote in internal elections.

The administrative committee will meet again next week to discuss what actions to take following the report, including potential disciplinary action against the four party operatives. The administrative committee does not have the power to expel members and a two-thirds majority of the partys state assembly is required.

Mr Sukkar and Mr Andrews were cleared by the Commonwealth Finance Department of wrongly using taxpayer-funded resources for branch stacking.

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Victorias corruption body is assessing allegations Mr Sukkars office misused taxpayer funds, but no action has been taken.

Mr Sukkar and Mr Andrews will not face internal disciplinary action.

Key figures in the scandal have refused to speak to the KordaMentha investigators, prompting Liberal Party president Robert Clark to warn party members in late November that suspension or expulsion could be the consequences for refusing to co-operate.

In an email to party members on Thursday night, party president Robert Clark said the membership activity was at best ... a deliberate circumvention of the Partys constitutional provisions.

At worst it is a form of branch stacking to gain votes through bringing into the Party persons who are unsuitable to be members and/or are not joining with a genuine commitment to the Party, he wrote.

On either view, what has occurred shows the need for urgent and substantial constitutional amendments to ensure the Party consistently encourages and welcomes genuine and committed new members while declining applications from persons who are unsuitable or seeking to join for inappropriate reasons.

The party is set to revamp its constitution to crack down on branch stacking and an independent tribunal may be created to sanction members.

Mr Bastiaan said in a statement on Thursday night that KordaMenthas enquiry found no evidence that I or the membership and training committee breached the Liberal Partys constitution.

I am pleased but not surprised to be cleared of all branch stacking allegations, he said.

After reviewing 12,000 memberships KordaMentha identified an average of 34 members per year had been paid inappropriately. The job of the president is to protect and preserve the reputation of the party, not to create the impression that we have suffered the same problems as Labor.

Tonights party wide email blaming volunteers for the 2018 election loss is unhinged and unbecoming of the state president. Party volunteers are not to blame for Robert losing his safe seat after 30 years.

I remain strongly supportive of the Liberal Party and hope new members will succeed in driving renewal and change.

The report was only made available to committee members who were physically present at the Thursday night meeting. The measure was designed to prevent details of the report leaking to the media.

The rule meant Education Minister Dan Tehan, representing Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Victorian shadow minister Kim Wells, representing Opposition Leader Michael OBrien, and former party president Michael Kroger were all unable to view the report as they were attending remotely via Zoom. A post-meeting briefing occurred for those who attended virtually.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Joshua Bonney would face disciplinary action. This is not the case.

Paul is a Victorian political reporter for The Age.

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More than 170 Liberals to have memberships revoked after review - The Age