Ex NSW RSL boss Don Rowe used charity cash to pay mortgage

THE former boss of the NSW RSL has revealed how he managed to spend thousands of dollars of charity money on flights, hotels, Christmas shopping and his mortgage.

‘Sorry’: Former RSL boss Don Rowe used charity cash to pay mortgage.

A FORMER boss of the NSW RSL has admitted using the charity’s money to go Christmas shopping, to pay his mortgage, purchase flights for relatives and pay their mobile phone bills.

Don Rowe, state president of the RSL between 2003 and 2014, is fronting a public inquiry to be grilled about his role in the expenses scandal that threatened to bring the 100-year-old organisation to its knees.

Allegations emerged last year that hundreds of thousands of dollars may have been misappropriated within the NSW RSL state executive and an auditor’s report found Mr Rowe used his RSL credit card to pay for around $38,000 in phone bills and withdrew $200,000 cash during his 11-year reign as president.

Former NSW RSL boss Don Rowe has issued an apology.

Afghanistan veteran James Brown, Malcolm Turnbull’s son-in-law, was appointed RSL president in May to clean up the organisation amid an angry backlash from grassroots members who demanded a major overhaul of the scandal-plagued charity.

Mr Brown was in the public gallery as an ashen-faced Mr Rowe issued an apology for his role in the debacle this morning, before admitting “dishonestly” and “wrongly” using his RSL-issued credit for personal items and to “support” income from two pensions, currently worth $1000-a-week.

“I apologise to staff, to the members of the wider RSL family and to the members of the public who have donated money,” he told the inquiry.

Mr Rowe, a Vietnam veteran, also revealed former RSL treasurer Rod White confronted him in 2014 and told to him stand down as it became clear there were problems with his expenses and threatened a forensic audit.

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The official reason at the time was “ill health”. Mr Rowe was suffering from high blood pressure but admitted the announcement was “misleading”.

“This did not tell the full story and it should have done,” he told the inquiry.

As president, Mr Rowe was given a $20,000 a year car allowance which he used to help service a $400,000 mortgage on his Armidale home.

He bought two cars with money secured against his home loan and then withdrew cash from the unused RSL car allowance to replace the money.

“I made regular cash withdrawals on the state president’s credit card, in respect of that motor vehicle allowance, which was applied to the mortgage secured over my home,” he said.

“Because I had borrowed money secured against my home to purchase the two motor vehicles.”

He also admitted using the RSL credit card to buy flights for relatives, pay their mobile phone bills and went Christmas shopping in Coles. He has since paid a small amount of the money back.

Mr Rowe said he was given use of a suite at Hyde Park Inn, owned by the RSL, which was known as the “state president’s suite” when he was in Sydney.

“I treated the state presidential suite as my home away from home,” he said.

“I accept that members of my immediate family from time to time stayed with me at the state president’s suite. One member of my immediate family stayed in the state president’s suite when I was not there.”

The former RSL boss said he rarely kept receipts for expense claims but denied a suggestion from Counsel Assisting the Inquiry, Anthony Cheshire SC that this was to hide what he was spending.

However, he admitted having a “complete disregard to his obligations”.

The inquiry before Justice Patricia Bergin continues.