Luxury cars, gold jewellery, and Foxtel subscriptions were among the items that Richard Green bought with money disgraced former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias provided to him, allegedly for helping facilitate the sale of Aboriginal-owned land in the Lower Hunter.
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The Independent Commission Against Corruption heard on Wednesday that Mr Green, a former land council board member, is alleged to have received an estimated $145,000 between 2014 and 2016 for his personal benefit from Mr Petroulias.
The money was received via several bank and credit card accounts that were operated in Mr Green’s name, but which appear to have been opened on behalf of him by Mr Petroulias.
Mr Green appeared confused when presented with statements from some of the accounts and denied any prior knowledge of others.
The commission is investigating whether a series of deals to sell Awabakal land to developers were a “ruse” to benefit former board members Richard Green or Debbie Dates.
It is also probing whether the first of the deals was a sham set up by Mr Petroulias – using a company he allegedly controlled called Gows Heat – so he could on-sell his interests to other buyers.
Mr Green admitted that he had paid about $1000 for nine-carat gold necklace for his wife in December 2015.
A secondhand BMW and Mercedes Benz were among five cars that he bought and traded over a short period because “they kept on breaking down”.
“The ended up costing me $40,000,” he said.
In addition to the big ticket items, the bank statements showed the funds were also used for Foxtel subscriptions, a quad bike, accommodation, meals, clothing, online chat, traffic infringements and numerous personal expenses. Mr Green agreed that he had signed key documents at the request of Mr Petroulias relating to land transactions and he had also allowed him to photograph diver’s licence.
But he rejected assertions he was receiving money as a “reward” for his services.
“Do you know if Mr Petroulias had an interest in Aboriginal issues prior to meeting you?”, Commissioner Peter Hall QC asked Mr Green.
“...how can someone who is giving you all of this money not be getting some benefit from it.”
Mr Green said he understood the money was to help him continue his work with Aboriginal land councils, but conceded he had also personally benefited from the money.
“It was to keep the ball rolling,” he said.
“We were trying to set up a company for the employment of Aboriginal people.
“I did that and I’m proud of it.”