Accountant and activist Des Fong to face Supreme Court on $440k stealing charge

ROUNDABOUT preservation activist and alleged fraudster accountant Des Fong will face the Supreme Court on a six figure white collar stealing charge

Darwin identity Des Fong will face the Supreme Court on a six-figure white-collar stealing charge. Picture: Justin Kennedy

ROUNDABOUT preservation activist and alleged fraudster accountant Des Fong will face the Supreme Court on a six-figure white-collar stealing charge.

Fong, 65, appeared briefly in Darwin Local Court on Wednesday where his barrister, John Lawrence SC, told Judge Therese Austin there was sufficient evidence for the accountant to be committed to stand trial.

Crown Prosecutor David Morters SC said the allegation involved Fong taking more than $440,000 from the sale of a client’s business.

The client, Rodney McClintock, had hired Fong to act as an “intermediary” for the sale of the business to a company in Perth.

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Mr Morters said bank records showed Fong on-paid $40,000 from the sale to Mr McClintock but used the remaining $440,000 to cover “his own personal expenses”.

“It was purported to be received into that account as a trust account … but that didn’t happen,” Mr Morters said.

Mr Morters said Fong’s alleged offending came to light when the Australian Taxation Office queried why an old tax bill had not been paid.

Mr Morters said Mr McClintock was under the impression the money Fong had held back from the sale had been used to pay off the tax bill.

The court heard the evidence in support of the stealing charge included 18 witness statements and 57 documents.

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Fong was charged in late June.

Fong is best known for fronting a “commonsense” 2016 campaign to save the Daly St roundabout, which Darwin council had planned to bulldoze and replace with traffic lights.

He also stood as a candidate at the 2017 Darwin council elections, attracting 622 first preference votes.

During the campaign he told the NT News he would bring “integrity and trust” to the council and use his financial expertise to ensure ratepayers got “value for money”.

The matter will go before the Supreme Court for an administrative hearing on February 28.