A long-time Framlingham trust board member claims to have known little about the trust finances "because I had faith in people".
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Elder Aunty Violet Clark was on Wednesday cross-examined during a Warrnambool Magistrates Court committal hearing into a $2.48 million fraud case about the nine statements she made to police investigators.
Former Framlingham Aboriginal Trust administrator Geoff Clark, his wife Trudi and two of their sons, Jeremy and Aaron, have been charged by police with a total of 1171 offences.
Geoff Clark has always maintained his innocence, labelling the charges and proceedings a "witch hunt".
Under cross-examination by barrister Tim Smurthwaite, Ms Clark agreed she was a long-time signatory to the trust account, but claimed to have signed very few cheques.
"I was asked to sign blank cheques by Geoff Clark if I was going away," she said.
She said Possum Clark-Ugle had his legal fees paid for after an incident at the Criterion Hotel in 2002 on the Thursday of the Warrnambool May Races, but she denied any knowledge that three other people had their legal fees paid for by the trust.
The elder said she thought Geoff Clark paid for his own legal fees in a series of court cases because he was working, that she expected those fees to "come out of his own pocket" and that the board would not have approved of those legal fees being paid by the trust.
In a summary of the case, prosecutor Justin Lewis said at the start of the committal hearing that the charges related to 16 alleged events and schemes which were allegedly conducted by members of the Clark family between 1998 and 2016 with the case involving $2.48 million.
In a series of legal actions the prosecution alleged that Geoff Clark accumulated bills of $900,000 and it's claimed $549,744 was paid to lawyers by the trust and associated entities.
Ms Clark said very few people knew about the workings of the business arm of the trust, Kirrae Whurrong Community Inc or the associated Boona Pastoral company.
She said she did not know why Geoff Clark had received a Christmas bonus in 2009 as he was working.
Ms Clark said she and two other women elders got $4000 Christmas bonuses two years later because dividends for cattle sales had not been paid for many years.
She admitted being a bankrupt "many many years ago, 40 or 50 years ago".
The elder also said she was charged with the theft of a handbag at a bowls club, saying "it was a mistake".
Ms Clark did not recall the outcome of the case or if her legal fees were paid for by the trust.
She agreed she had been paid to paint her own house as part of a training scheme at Framlingham.
The committal hearing before magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg will continue today with Ms Clark expected to continue giving evidence.
It's expected that former Framlingham trust bookkeeper Allan Thomas will also resume giving evidence before a committal hearing is adjourned at the end of this week until a further hearing between June 9 and 19.
Read more:
- Police claim 16 events and schemes led to 1171 fraud-related charges
- Court claim Geoff Clark said he would not pay woman compensation
- Ex-boss says Aboriginal Affairs Victoria failed to monitor Framlingham Aboriginal Trust
- Trust bookkeeper Allan Thomas refuses to answer questions as he might incriminate himself
- Geoff Clark's former right-hand man Mick Fitzgerald made seven statements to police
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