A court has thrown out a charge of intimidation that was laid against a construction union official in the wake of the trade union royal commission.

NSW Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union organiser Michael Greenfield was charged with intimidating a Fair Work building inspector following referral to prosecutors by commissioner Dyson Heydon.

The charge related to a 2014 incident at the Barangaroo construction site in Sydney that was detailed in evidence before the royal commission and included in commissioner Heydon’s interim report.

Mr Greenfield was charged in October 2015 and appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court where the charge of intimidating a commonwealth public official was dismissed.

A spokesperson for the commonwealth director of public prosecutions said the magistrate dismissed the charge as she was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the official had in fact been intimidated.

In a statement, CFMEU national construction secretary Dave Noonan slammed the charge, which follows charges also being dropped against two other CFMEU officials, John Lomax and Andrew Sutherland.

“In all of these cases, it was obvious from the outset that there were no grounds for the charges laid and no chance of success,” he said.

Mr Noonan said the actions “seem to be designed to create a storm of negative publicity for the union”.