Mr Rae, 40, now of Contour Drive, Mullaloo, Western Australia, was interviewed by appointment at the Warrnambool police station on November 25 last year, when he was interviewed, charged and bailed.

He did not appear in Warrnambool Magistrates Court yesterday.

Defence counsel Tony Robinson said his client was living in Perth and it had been a long and drawn-out police investigation.

Mr Rae was originally charged with about 60 offences relating to about $80,000.

Yesterday, Mr Robinson indicated Mr Rae would plead guilty to seven charges relating to $30,231.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan took the guilty pleas on the seven charges and listed the case for a guilty plea on September 18.

Psychological material is in the process of being prepared.

This caused the plea hearing to be adjourned for some time.

Police will allege that offending occurred between 2004 and early 2010, when Mr Rae ran the Warrnambool Good Guys store.

It is understood Mr Rae basically made a no-comment interview with police.

Detective Senior Con-stable Damian Coutts, of Warrnambool police, has been undertaking investigations for the past 16 months into allegations raised by the management of the Good Guys chain through an audit process.