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Over a period of several years from 2012, Mr McGougan recommended members' funds not be invested in ISPT.

He alleges when he raised concerns about AustralianSuper’s poor management of conflicts in relation to ISPT, his job was restructured to prevent him attending investment committee meetings and making recommendations against the ISPT investment.

He accused Mr Delaney and Mr Daley of engaging in a "deliberate and concerted effort" to get rid of him for persistently raising concerns about conflicts of interest.

In its defence lodged in court this week, AustralianSuper said the restructure, under which Mr McGougan would report to the fund’s head of mid-risk, Jason Peasley, was made so the organisation would be “operationally more efficient”.

Mr Delaney met with Mr McGougan to tell him about the restructure and said the property department was becoming “isolated” from the rest of the organisation and Mr McGougan was not a “team player,” court documents state.

Mr McGougan allegedly responded by lashing out and saying, “you've f--king done me over.”

AustralianSuper claims he later apologised to Mr Delaney for the way he spoke.

The super fund also denied Mr McGougan’s allegation that its chief executive, Ian Silk, has tried to get Mr McGougan to drop his conflict of interest complaint, saying “you have to drop this".

Mr Silk told Mr McGougan he had three options - either he could “move on from the hard feelings” he was harbouring, continue to “reflect a negative presence,” or leave AustralianSuper’s employment, documents state.

“In a subsequent discussion between Silk and McGougan, McGougan said to Silk that he would pursue the first option,” the documents state.

AustralianSuper has more than $140 billion under management from 2.2 million members.

The claims follow months of revelations about financial mismanagement in the for-profit super fund industry at the royal commission into banking and financial services.

Mr McGougan's position was terminated following a negative performance review earlier this year. He says he endured humiliation, pain and suffering and is seeking loss of $491,886 income.