Gordon Nuttall left destitute after serving jail time for corruption
HE SAID he just wanted to provide for his children. But taking corrupt payments has left former Labor minister Gordon Nuttall in a much worse position.
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DISGRACED politician Gordon Nuttall walks from jail today as a free but destitute man.
While he has been behind bars on corruption charges for the past six years, two of his properties have been sold to pay debts to the state, legal fees and other costs, and he has also faced legal woes with his former wife Elizabeth.
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Nuttall was allowed to leave jail on parole any time after midnight and is expected to live with his daughter.
Documents tabled in Parliament reveal he had more than $1 million in liabilities, including more than $200,000 in outstanding legal fees.
Nuttall was ordered to repay $450,000 under proceeds of crime laws following his conviction in 2009 for receiving corrupt payments, as well as $42,000 in court costs.
He was later made to pay a further proceeds of crime cost of $141,000 and $5000 in court fees, as well as $82,000 in fines for contempt of Parliament.
A letter from solicitors engaged by Nuttall in 2012 and an Ethics Committee report, showed his Woodgate property had been sold for $721,000, while his Sandgate property was subject to property settlement negotiations with his ex-wife and eventually sold.
QUT adjunct associate professor John Mickel, who was a Labor MP with Nuttall in parliament, said the former politician had paid a heavy toll.
“At 62 years he walks out of there with a tarnished name and no resources,” he said.
“Not only has he done his time, but so has his family. That’s about all he is walking out of that place with.
“A fair-minded person would say he’s done his time, he’s been left financially destitute, what more could society want from him.”
Mr Mickel said his release from prison was unlikely to have any political backlash for the Palaszczuk Government, as the matter had been handled entirely by the parole board.
“His release by the parole board is quite unexceptional,” he said.
At the time of his conviction then-Premier Anna Bligh said the State Government would attempt to recover the state-funded component of his superannuation.
But it is unclear if this was proceeded with, as documents from late 2012 showed the matter was still unresolved.
Nuttall, a former health, industrial relations and primary industries minister, was jailed for 14 years for corruptly receiving payments from businessmen.
It included corrupt payments of $360,000 from mining magnate Ken Talbot, who died in a plane crash in Africa in 2010.
Nuttall was also found to have received $150,000 from businessman Brendan McKennariey.
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