Former NAB chief of staff sentenced to eight years jail over kickback scheme
A former chief of staff to National Australia Bank CEOs will spend more than four years behind bars after fraudulently approving inflated invoices in return for kickbacks worth more than $5 million.
Between 2013 and 2017, Rosemary Rogers accepted payments from Human Group chief executive Helen Rosamond bankrolling multiple lavish domestic and international holidays for herself and her extended family, along with the purchase and renovation of a holiday home, plus two boats and a luxury car.
In the NSW District Court on Wednesday, Ms Rogers was sentenced to a maximum of eight years in jail, with a non-parole period of four years and nine months, after what Acting Judge Paul Conlon described as a “particularly difficult sentencing exercise”.
Rosemary Rogers arrives for sentencing on Wednesday.Credit:Nick Moir
In sentencing Ms Rogers, Judge Conlon ran through the details of 64 charges against her, including 27 counts of corruptly receiving a benefit, each of which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, and which bore a total value of $5,540,600.
Ms Rogers was able to commit the fraud in her role as chief of staff to former NAB bosses Andrew Thorburn and his predecessor Cameron Clyne, whereby she approved invoices from the Sydney-based events and human resources company Human Group without scrutiny from NAB.
The invoices were prepared by Ms Rosamond, whom Judge Conlon said had developed such a close relationship with Ms Rogers that they would meet frequently for lunch despite living in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. In texts, the women used the phrases “bestie” and “sister from a mother” to refer to each other. They would also exchange gifts, including items of jewellery.
Helen Rosamond, former CEO of executive events firm Human Group.Credit:Jessica Hromas
Then there were the bribes. Among them, a $1.5 million cheque went towards a $3.8 million luxury home in Williamstown, an upmarket suburb in Melbourne’s inner-west. The funds from that cheque came from a $2.2 million invoice Ms Rogers approved ostensibly for the on-boarding of former NSW Premier Mike Baird, who joined the bank in 2017, six weeks after stepping down from his role as the state’s top politician.
The court heard the actual cost of onboarding Mr Baird was $60,000. Human Group “had nothing to do with the onboarding of Mr Baird and the offender knew that,” Judge Conlon said.
Judge Conlon said it was “absolutely staggering” that such the fraudulent invoices “were not detected by some appropriate system for internal auditing by NAB”.
All it took was for Human Group to submit invoices that were “devoid of detail” and “the offender would merely approve courtesy of her delegated authority,” he said.
Ms Rosamond will face a trial next year involving separate charges for her alleged involvement. Neither Mr Thorburn nor Mr Clyne is accused of any wrongdoing.
Earlier this year, Rogers pleaded guilty to multiple charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and being an agent corruptly receiving a benefit.
More to come.
Jenny Noyes is a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald.