An Indigenous leader who rubbed shoulders with Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama stole more than $920,000 from Aboriginal organisations to pay his personal legal fees and house expenses.
Three Victorian County Court juries convicted Geoff Clark on 25 charges of theft, obtaining financial advantage by deception, perjury and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
The jury verdicts, from December 2023 and May 2024, can now be reported after a suppression order was lifted.
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The 72-year-old was found to have stolen $922,214 from Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, Kirrae Whurrong Community Incorporated, Maar Land Council and Gariwerd Enterprises between 2001 and 2015.
Clark, the former national chairman of the disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, used $404,344 to pay legal fees as he faced criminal and civil proceedings in the early 2000s.
He was ultimately convicted of obstructing police at Warrnambool’s Criterion Hotel, while a civil jury found he led two pack rapes against a teenage girl in the 1970s.
Clark then used $56,020 of the stolen funds for housing expenses, including rates and electricity and water bills.
He stole about $47,000 from the descendants of the late Robert Clark by falsely representing the value of 1000 Framlingham Aboriginal Trust shares.
He also committed perjury in a sworn affidavit in 2007 and while giving evidence to the Federal Court in 2013.
Clark stared straight ahead as the details of his crimes were read out to the County Court in Melbourne today.
His barrister Simon Kenny said Clark conceded he had breached the trust of his local community, but added that the money did not go towards funding a lavish lifestyle.
Kenny emphasised Clark had always been a tireless advocate for Indigenous people in Victoria’s far west, with the 72-year-old rising to prominence for his advocacy work in the 1980s.
He regularly attended the United Nations and met with Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Australian prime ministers, Kenny said.
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Clark’s work for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and on native title claims was also notable, the barrister said.
“He has effectively devoted his entire life to advancing the interest of Aboriginal people,” Kenny told the court.
The defence barrister said he would wait to hear what the prosecution said about Clark’s sentence before making further submissions.
Clark’s son Jeremy, 51, was also found guilty of theft and false accounting between 2003 and 2005.
A jury determined he had stolen $231,969 from the Aboriginal organisations to help fund his father’s legal fees.
Jeremy Clark also pleaded guilty to wrongly obtaining $10,780 as a grant from the federal government.
His barrister John Moore told the court his client did not benefit at all from the thefts, rather that he was helping his father.
The pre-sentence hearing before Judge Michael O’Connell continues.
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