Geraldton businessman Thomas ‘Graham’ Greenaway found guilty at retrial of 33 charges of stealing $2.9m

A former Geraldton financial planner, pub owner and deputy mayor accused of using a native title trust as his “own personal ATM” has been found guilty for the second time of stealing $2.9 million. A District Court jury found Thomas “Graham” Greenaway, 73, guilty of 33 stealing charges on Thursday afternoon after an eight-day trial. It was a retrial after Greenaway was convicted of 33 stealing charges and one count of fraud at trial in November 2021 and was sentenced to six years and four months jail. However, in December 2022, Greenaway successfully appealed against his conviction and a retrial of the 33 stealing charges was ordered. The Court of Appeal acquitted Greenaway of the sole fraud charge. Jurors heard Greenaway stole $2.9m from a native title trust designed to support First Nations people from the Meekatharra region. They found him guilty of defrauding the Yugunga-Nya People’s Trust by transferring $2.9m to a company, of which he was the sole director. The Yugunga-Nya People’s Trust distributed mining royalties, and Greenaway administered this as the trustee, as well as being responsible for the investment of the funds in ways which would benefit the trust. Over the course of four years, Greenaway put nearly $3m from the trust into a company named FAWRKT Pty Ltd, which acquired units of West Harbour Unit Trust, trading as the Freemasons Hotel in Geraldton. For the duration of his tenure, Greenaway transferred amounts ranging from $10,000 to $1.4m, the latter amount transferred the day he found out he was being dismissed from the role of trustee. He was both the lender and the borrower. State prosecutor Jason Chu told the jury Greenaway had treated the trust as a “personal ATM”, and transferred funds to support his failing business. “This is not a case of Greenaway making a bad financial decision,” he said. Mr Chu said despite the hotel recording a $2.2m loss at the end of 2014, “Greenaway continued to take money from the trust account to continue running the Freemasons Hotel”. The company name, FAWRKT Pty Ltd, was created using the initials of Greenaway’s family members. Mr Chu said using it to name a company established for the Yugunga-Nya People’s Trust was “highly unlikely”. “The company name itself supports the argument it was created for his own purposes and not the trust,” he said. The trial was told Greenaway had made no mention of the transactions to the trust’s advisory committee in any council meetings, and board members at the time, who are still alive, gave evidence they were not told about it. Defence lawyer Alexander Mossop told the court Greenaway had purchased the hotel to invest the funds to create education and training opportunities for the Yugunga-Nya people. In his own evidence, Greenaway said there was a verbal agreement between late members to keep the trust’s ownership quiet due to concerns about antisocial behaviour inside the hotel. Mr Mossop gave numerous points of evidence to the jury throughout the trial including financial statements from the trust which declared the “loans” from the trust to FAWRKT Pty Ltd. “If you were stealing why would you have it revealed in loan documents, on financial statements and meetings and documents that go to accountants?” he said. When Greenaway was dismissed from his role as trustee, he approached the Supreme Court to look into his removal. “If you as the trustee have something to hide why on earth would you invite the Supreme Court to look into this? It is far more plausible the Supreme Court became involved because he was invalidly removed,” Mr Mossop argued. The financial planner said he had spent most of his life in Geraldton and had served in many community positions, including as Geraldton deputy mayor, hockey association president, Mid West Sports Federation chairman and helped form the Geraldton Buccaneers. Greenaway was granted bail until Tuesday, July 16 in Perth after his defence asked for a delayed sentencing hearing, to ensure he could care for his wife after surgery.