Missing AFL umpire Troy Pannell’s case fast tracked
Former AFL umpire Troy Pannell’s case has been moved forward just days after he was involved in a car accident.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Missing umpire Troy Pannell has had a fast tracked court hearing listed for Wednesday, just days after he was reportedly pursued by police before he had a car accident.
The 48-year-old Gisborne man was due to appear before Justice Andrew Watson in a civil claim over an alleged $8.7 million fraud against his employer SeaRoad Shipping.
Mr Pannell had failed to attend at least three hearings in the Victorian Supreme Court over the matter.
Justice Watson had issued an arrest warrant for contempt of court last month.
It was unclear whether Mr Pannell would attend court in person on Wednesday.
The case had been due to return to court on June 20.
Mr Pannell umpired 219 AFL games, including a controversial 2016 match where he paid 17 free kicks to the Western Bulldogs and only one to Adelaide.
Court documents reveal that SeaRoad Shipping claimed Mr Pannell was involved in a company called Independent Container Surveyor’s and Assessor’s while employed at SeaRoad Shipping.
“SeaRoad has paid total amounts in excess of $8.5 million to ICSA in circumstances
where you held an undisclosed interest in ICSA at all times, and where SeaRoad
can find no evidence that ICSA in fact provided the services the subject of the
invoices to SeaRoad,” an affidavit from solicitor Chris Egan said.
Mr Pannell was being paid about $110,000 a year at SeaRoad Shipping but would have made that amount again when he was a senior AFL umpire.
He co-owned two cafes, Common Galaxia in Melbourne’s inner west, and Duck Duck Goose and Larder in Kyneton, country Victoria with his estranged wife.
The couple had been planning to sell the cafes and extend the mortgage on the family home last year before details of the alleged scheme were revealed in August.
Mr Pannell’s wife Lynise Woodgate was also listed in the court documents, but had denied any involvement in the alleged payments to ICSA.
She claimed that she paid for the Duck Duck Goose and Larder cafe from a $320,000 loan from her parents, which remained unpaid.
“Mortgages were paid by Mr Pannell, as I was told not to worry about it. The origin of the
money was not disclosed to me,” she wrote in an email to SeaRoad Shipping’s legal team.
“Other than the mortgage and joint bank accounts linked to the mortgage finances have
always been separate.”
stephen.drill@news.com.au
More Coverage
Originally published as Missing AFL umpire Troy Pannell’s case fast tracked
Updated: Top shot! Lens on rugby rising stars at NSW junior champs
The rising stars of rugby and future Wallaroos and Wallabies were firmly in the spotlight at the NSW U16, U18s junior championships. Updated action photos from the events here
Plot to quietly rebrand footy team revealed
A Queensland institution has quietly submitted a major change to its branding, in a move that could drain the colour from the state’s flagship NRL team.