A former council CEO found guilty of fraud after transferring almost $60,000 from a not-for-profit foundation to a "desperate" Queensland mayor has been granted a retrial.
Lee Robertson received a suspended two-year jail term following a District Court trial in August 2021.
After being told Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council mayor Greg McLean was in financial trouble, Robertson transferred $58,400 between December 2012 and February 2013, the court heard.
He transferred the money to Mr McLean from the Hope Vale Foundation, which provided a variety of projects for the far north Queensland Aboriginal community.
Robertson was working for the foundation which he helped create after a stint as the Hope Vale council's CEO.
The court heard Mr McLean approached Robertson asking for money, suggesting that he would get the council to provide $500,000 to the foundation.
Robertson later made four payments to Mr McLean but said in his statement that it "did not seem right".
However, he claimed deputy mayor and foundation director June Pearson had approved the payments and that she and Mr McLean pressured him into transferring the money.
"I recall June Pearson saying words to the effect 'Lee, Greg is in financial trouble, what can the (foundation) do to help him...he is desperate'," Robertson said in his statement.
Ms Pearson denied authorising payments at the trial.
Robertson detailed an exchange with the foundation's Dawn Lake in his statement, claiming Mr McLean had rung him at 7.30am in December 2012 demanding that he "pay the money now".
"I got out of bed and rang Dawn Lake a little later that morning and ... said words to the effect 'what should we do?'.
"'If we don't pay we get screwed and if we do pay the community will be in uproar when they find out'."
Robertson said in his statement after one payment he "just wanted Greg off my back, he was running me into the ground".
Robertson said he agreed "this could not continue" after the fourth payment to Mr McLean.
In his statement, Robertson said after denying a money request in late February Mr McLean responded: "Pay the f***ing money, what game are you playing."
A Court of Appeal judgment by Justices Hugh Fraser, John Bond and Philip Morrison said a key element at the trial was proving that Robertson acted dishonestly.
The judgment said the trial judge had identified for the jury that Robertson contended he honestly believed he was entitled to set aside his personal views and transfer the money because Ms Pearson had authorised it.
However, it said the judge did not instruct the jury that they could not convict unless satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Robertson did not honestly believe he had that entitlement.
"It was the failure to give the latter part of that direction which occasioned a miscarriage of justice," the judgment by Justices Bond and Fraser said.
Justice Morrison said he would have dismissed the appeal.
Overall Robertson's appeal was allowed, his conviction quashed and a retrial ordered.
Australian Associated Press
