In July 2018 the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) continues to hear evidence in Operation Skyline.
An organisation called United Land Councils Limited was mentioned as allegedly sending its then sole director Richard Green around New South Wales to talk with local aboriginal land councils concerning certain proposals.
These trips appear to have commenced sometime in 2015.
At least one trip taken in 2016 by Mr. Green was to Yamba in the Clarence Valley, allegedly at the behest of Nicholas Petroulias.
The subject of the alleged discussion/s with the Yaegl community in Yamba was the creation of a large port in the Clarence River estuary.
It shoud be noted that by July 2016 Yaegl elders and the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation were strongly opposed to a mega port being created in the estuary.
Mainstream media has been following current events as they unfolded.....
The Daily Telegraph, 13 July 2018:
AUSTRALIA’S youngest
ever tax chief is behind bars after allegedly being caught with a wallet full
of counterfeit cash, bank cards in different names and dodgy driver’s licences.
Nick Petroulias,
once the nation’s second most powerful tax official, appeared before Burwood
Local Court as Michael Nicholas Felson earlier this week having been pulled
over by police while driving his luxury black BMW X5.
When the officers
stopped him in inner-west Sydney on June 20, the 50-year-old is alleged to have
handed them a current New Zealand driver’s licence in the name of another
alias, Nicholas James Piers.
Police will allege that
inquiries revealed Piers was a permanent resident of Australia and allegedly
had a number of aliases including Nick Petersen, Michael Felson as
well as his real name — Nick Petroulias.
Under his various
aliases he is alleged to have held one NSW driver’s licence, three Queensland
licences, one from Victoria and another from Tasmania, only two of which were
current. He has not been charged over those licences.
Once a Melbourne legal
whiz-kid, Petroulias (pictured left) was made assistant commissioner
of the Australian Taxation Office at the age of 30. In 2014 he was declared
bankrupt with eye-watering estimated debts of $104 million.
On Tuesday he appeared
in court via videolink from Silverwater Jail dressed in prison greens as he
used his fingers to flatten the “comb-over” hiding his bald head.
Court documents show he
has pleaded not guilty to knowingly possessing seven counterfeit Australian $50
bank notes and two counts of possessing bank cards with the intention of
committing fraud. He was refused police bail on June 20 and refused bail in
Burwood Local Court the next day.
His case has been
adjourned to August 14 when the court was told he will make a fresh bail
application.
Newcastle
Herald, 17
July 2018:
A member of the Awabakal
Local Aboriginal Land Council has admitted to giving false evidence to the
Independent Commission against Corruption and disobeying orders not to discuss
its inquiry with other potential witnesses, after an intercepted phone call was
played in which he told former tax official Nick Petroulias about an
inquiry into land deals with which the pair were involved.
But Richard Green,
former deputy chair of Awabakal, denied he was “tipping off” Mr Petroulias
about the ICAC inquiry.
He was reprimanded by
Commissioner Peter Hall QC for failing to answer questions directly.
“Mr Green if you're
going to obstruct this commission you could be putting yourself into real
trouble,” Commissioner Hall said.
On Monday, Mr Green was
questioned about whether he spoke to anyone after receiving a summons from the
ICAC in January, telling him he would be required to appear before its
Operation Skyline public hearings and warning him not to discuss the matter
with any other person.
When pressed by counsel
assisting the commission, Nicholas Chen SC, Mr Green admitted he had a brief
conversation with Mr Petroulias about the summons, but said it was because he
had not read the warning contained within the letter.
However minutes later, a
phone intercept was played where Mr Green was heard to read the contents of the
letter to Mr Petroulias, including the direction to keep the summons
confidential.
“That was contrary to
the clear and express statement of what you were not permitted to do. Isn't
that right?” Mr Chen said. “What's your excuse, Mr Green, for doing that?”
“Like I said before I
don't – I haven't got an excuse,” Mr Green responded.
The inquiry heard that
Mr Petroulias is in custody on unrelated charges.
The former tax office
high flyer is accused of playing a "central role" in four deals to
sell off Awabakal land. The ICAC is investigating whether the deals were a sham
to benefit Mr Petroulias, his lawyer partner Despina Bakis, and Awabakal board
members Mr Green and Debbie Dates.
Mr Green conceded that
his signature appeared on a number of the sales agreements. However he insisted
he could not read well and had not read through documents when they were given
to him to sign by either Mr Petroulias or Ms Bakis.
He could not explain why
he signed the documents without telling other board members about them, despite
board approval being a requirement of land sales. He agreed his behaviour was
"reckless in the extreme" but denied he benefited financially from
it.
"When you've got a
person acting like Nick you take notice of them," he said. "And I
keep saying over and over if people understand how Aboriginal land councils
function they will understand what I'm talking about.''
Newcastle
Herald, 19
July 2018:
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.
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.
BACKGROUND
25 September
2016 What's
in a name?
9 February 2018 One
of the reasons why local government, traditional owners and communities in the
Clarence Valley should be very wary of home-grown and foreign lobbyists,
investment consortiums and land developers – Part Two
1 April 2018 UNITED
LAND COUNCILS IN THE NEWS AGAIN: Nicholas Petroulias appears before NSW
Independent Commission Against Corruption and represents himself at hearings
16 April 2018 One
of those asssociated with the company behind the second push for a Yamba Mega
Port allegedly used an alias when giving sworn evidence before a NSW parliamentary
committee
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