Donations funneled to mayor through trust fund, CCC hears

Donors were instructed to fund Moreton Bay mayor Allan Sutherland's election through a third party, which had the effect of hiding developer donations from his disclosure statements, evidence before a Crime and Corruption Commission showed on Thursday.

Cr Sutherland's Electoral Commission of Queensland disclosure forms showed he received $118,587.05 in campaign contributions from the Moreton Futures Trust.

But the CCC has heard the trust, which received several large donations from developers, existed in 2016 solely to assist for Cr Sutherland's re-election campaign.

MFT trustee Kirby Leeke told the CCC on Thursday those donations were then used to pay Cr Sutherland's campaign costs at the request of Gayle Sutherland, the mayor's wife.

Moreton Bay mayor Allan Sutherland's 2016 re-election campaign was funded, in part, through a trust.Credit: Robert Shakespeare

It meant the donors who assisted in Cr Sutherland's campaign did not appear on the mayor's ECQ disclosure forms.

An email to Mr Leeke from Focus Pacific chief executive Michael Graham, which was tendered as evidence, indicated that Mr Graham had been speaking directly with Cr Sutherland.

As a result of that conversation, Mr Graham said in the email, Moreton Futures Trust could expect a $10,000 deposit from his company.

Mr Leeke said that money was never forthcoming.

"I don't think he did pay or come through with it," he said.

Mr Leeke, an accountant, told the commission it was not unusual for people to walk off the street, unannounced, with large contributions for the fund and, through it, Cr Sutherland's campaign.

"It has happened before," he said.

Mr Leeke said he could not say how donors knew about the trust, other than word-of-mouth and from previous campaigns.

But Mr Leeke said he thought town planner Timothy Connolly, who helped set up the trust, and former mayoral candidate and former MFT trustee Bryan Galvin may have done some "background work" to attract donations.

Mr Leeke said Mrs Sutherland would request MFT to pay invoices that had been sent to the Sutherland campaign and he took it upon himself to decide whether or not to agree to those requests.

Counsel assisting the CCC Glen Rice, QC, pointed out the trust deed required both trustees – Mr Leeke and Aspley GP John Ryan – to authorise such payments.

"The trust deed, if you read it, I could have been a smart alec, but the trust deed says all payments should be approved by two people," Mr Leeke said.

"It doesn't say before they're paid, so I could have got them signed today if I had of gone to see John earlier, but that would have been, I'm sorry, that would have been a smart alec for this commission. I wasn't intending to try and trivialise this commission."

Earlier in the day, Dr Ryan said he had no recollection of being involved with the trust at all, despite his signature appearing on the original deed of trust and still being listed as one of the trust's two trustees.

Mr Leeke contradicted that when he said he, Dr Ryan and Mr Galvin had regular informal meetings regarding the Moreton Futures Trust at a local Coffee Club.

It was over the course of those meetings, Mr Leeke said, that it was decided the fund would back Cr Sutherland's campaign.

Outside, Mr Leeke said he was confident there was no wrongdoing either by the people involved with the fund or Cr Sutherland himself.

"Everything was declared with the electoral commission," he said.

When asked whether it was "sneaky" for Cr Sutherland to use the fund, rather than have it declared on his own disclosure forms, Mr Leeke said that would be a "matter for the court (sic) to decide".

"To the best of my knowledge, (Cr Sutherland) didn't get the contact with the developers so he filled (his disclosure form) as best as he could," he said.

The CCC launched Operation Belcarra in September following a spike in funding and disclosure allegations against candidates who ran in the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Ipswich council elections.

Cr Sutherland was due to appear before the CCC on Friday, along with federal Labor MP Shayne Neumann, Ipswich councillor Kylie Stoneman and Moreton Bay councillor Peter Flannery.