By Erin Pearson
Disgraced Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark is facing jail time for stealing more than $1 million from Indigenous community organisations to pay off personal legal fees and living expenses over more than a decade.
Clark, 72, who was the head of the now-disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, faced the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday after multiple juries found him guilty of more than two dozen fraud, theft and deception-related offences.
Geoff Clark, pictured arriving at the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday, has been found guilty of multiple charges of fraud and theft.Credit: Eddie Jim
The court heard Clark’s eldest son, 51-year-old Jeremy Clark, helped his father defraud one organisation by more than a quarter of a million dollars and hide payments while at the helm of Gariwerd Enterprises in the Grampians, in Victoria’s west.
The pair sat next to each other in the dock of the court on Wednesday as details of their offending were laid out.
Crown prosecutor Justin Lewis said juries found Geoff Clark guilty of using Indigenous community funds to pay $460,000 of his own private legal fees to Melbourne-based law firm Coadys between 2000 and 2009, stemming from an unrelated court case and an unfair dismissal claim against the government.
He was also found guilty of pocketing rental money meant for community coffers and the financial benefits of an eel licence, while also using community money to pay rates and electricity bills for his properties near Warrnambool and Halls Gap.
Lewis said Clark also undervalued Framlingham Aboriginal Trust shares by $47,000 that he purchased from others, which give owners voting rights, and gave false testimony over the number of properties he owned.
He was found guilty of stealing more than $400,000 from Kirrae Whurrong Aboriginal Corporation, Maar Land Council and Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, and fraudulently dealing with more than $922,000 in community funds in western Victoria.
All of these organisations were controlled by Clark in the 2000s.
Clark, left, with then prime minister John Howard when Clark was head of the ATSIC.Credit: Pat Scala
Clark was removed from running the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust in 2011 but controversially remained on the board and remains actively involved with Framlingham’s financial arm, Kirrae Whurrong.
Following three separate jury trials, Clark was found guilty of 25 charges: four counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, 17 counts of theft, two counts of perjury and one charge each of giving a false testimony and knowingly dealing in the proceeds of crime.
Clark was found not guilty – or the charges were discontinued – of 13 other alleged offences. A suppression order was lifted last month, meaning the details of those trials can now be reported.
Jeremy Clark was found guilty of being party to the theft of $230,000 in funds with his father.
Clark near his home in Framlingham in 2005.Credit: Robin Sharrock
The 51-year-old, from Fitzroy, also pleaded guilty to a single charge of dishonestly obtaining $10,000 from the Commonwealth to build his younger brother, Aaron Clark, a home office in Ballarat in 2009. The money has since been repaid.
Following a five-year investigation codenamed Operation Omega, police alleged Geoff Clark misappropriated money from the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust and other Indigenous community groups he was connected with between 2000 and 2010.
Clark was charged in 2019 and committed to stand trial in August 2021 on hundreds of charges alleging he defrauded $2 million in funds and assets from community bodies that managed money for Indigenous communities.
Geoff Clark and sons Jeremy (middle) and Aaron outside court in 2019.Credit: Warrnambool Standard
At the time, Clark labelled the case “the biggest political assassination this district and this country has ever seen”.
Charges were also laid against his wife but later discontinued.
Clark’s barrister, Simon Kenny, said his client was born in Carlton in 1952 to an Indigenous mother and Scottish father and was raised in Framlingham by his grandmother.
Kenny said Clark experienced disadvantage in his early years, including living in a timber house with no water or electricity.
Clark also experienced racism and questions around his Aboriginality from a young age, Kenny said, which permeated much of his adult life but also inspired him to become politically active.
“The racism faced as a young man strengthened his sense of identity and pride as an Aboriginal man,” Kenny said.
“He’s devoted his entire life to advancing the interest of Aboriginal people in Australia through tireless advocacy and activism of Aboriginal rights.”
Outside court, Jeremy Clark said he never personally benefited from any of these historical matters and maintained his innocence to all but one charge.
“I acknowledge that I made an error of judgement and unreservedly apologise. My first priority has always been improving the lives and futures of my community, as well as of Indigenous Australians more broadly, and I condemn any actions taken by others that have compromised this,” he said.
The pre-sentence hearing continues.
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.