Olympian Neil Brooks and wife charged with fraud

FORMER Olympic swimmer Neil Brooks and his wife have faced a Queensland court after being charged over an alleged $1.95 million fraud.

FORMER Olympic swimmer Neil Brooks has been arrested this morning in relation to an alleged $1.95 million fraud after arriving in Australia on a flight from Hong Kong.

Brooks has fronted court on the same day his wife, Linda, also appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with fraud and attempted to apply for bail to live in Bali.

Former Olympic gold medallist Neil Brooks.

It is alleged they were directors of a sports clothing manufacturing company which made “dishonest representations about the success of the business in order to induce a victim to purchase a 50 per cent share of the company”.

Mr Brooks was today bailed to live and work in Hong Kong.

The court was told he would give a $15,000 surety and return to Australia as required. The conditions were agreed to by police.

Neil Brooks and his wife Linda have both been charged.

Mrs Brooks has been on bail since she was extradited to Queensland from Perth last month.

But she is required to enter into a new bail undertaking in Queensland and today Magistrate Suzette Coates raised concerns that she proposed to reside in Bali with the consent of police.

“So I’m going to allow her to trot off and live in Bali with $2 million in Australian (dollars)?,” Ms Coates asked.

“Well that’s magical conditions, isn’t it?

“I’m not just ticking off on some bail application ... I need a bit more information than ‘she’ll be right, mate’.”

Neil Brooks surrendered to police after returning to Australia.

Ms Coates adjourned the bail application until tomorrow for police to provide more information, and extended Mrs Brooks’ bail in the meantime.

Mr Brooks, who won gold as part of the 4x100m medley relay team at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 and was a Seven Network presenter, is expected to be brought from the watchhouse into court to appear later this morning.

Police said he surrendered after negotiating with detectives to return to Australia.

After being released from the watch house this afternoon, Mr Brooks said he was looking forward to his day in court.

“It has been a tough ten years but I am actually looking forward to having my accusers and setting the record straight,” he said.

He said he had been coaching in Hong Kong and travelled back to Australia 31 times in the past 10 years, and today was the first time he had spoken to police.

“When I heard what was going on, I made contact with them (police),” he said.

Neil Brooks won gold in 1980.

He later reinvented himself as a triathlete.