Home of former chief of staff to NAB chief Andrew Thorburn raided by fraud squad

Fraud squad detectives have seized computers and documents from the home of the former chief of staff to NAB’s CEO.

Police have raided the home of Rosemary Rogers, the former chief of staff to NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn, in the midst of a bribery investigation going to the heart of Australia’s big for banks with over $110 million in payments now being investigated.

NSW and Victorian fraud squad detectives executed search warrants at Ms Rogers’ Melbourne home this morning, confiscating large amounts of files and computers from the Williamstown address.

As YourMoney/The Australian revealed last week, the NSW Crime Commission last week instructed NAB to freeze Ms Rogers accounts after serving notices on Ms Rogers.

The moves by police this morning further widen the investigation into the kickback scandal at the heart of the NAB focusing on $113m worth of corporate travel organised by the corporate services company The Human Group.

Rosemary Rogers, the former chief of staff to three NAB chief executives including Andrew Thorburn, has been under investigation by NSW Financial Crime Squad over services provided by The Human Group over a ten-year period to the NAB.

Police are investigating whether kickbacks were paid by The Human Group to bank staff to secure inflated contracts with the NAB.

The trips — which cost the bank on average over $10m a year — included numerous first-class getaways attended by the bank’s leading executives, including Mr Thorburn.

No charges have been laid against Ms Rogers, and Ms Rogers has not responded to requests for comment from YourMoney/The Australian.

Your Money/The Australian is not suggesting Rogers engaged in any wrongdoing, only that she is being investigated

Ms Rogers and the Human Group director Helen Rosamond have been at the centre of a bribery investigation since Ms Rogers quit the bank a year ago.

A NSW Police strike force set up to investigate the alleged fraud conducted raids in April and properties in Sydney and Melbourne, including the Human Group’s offices and Ms Rosamond’s Sydney address.

Several of Ms Rosamond’s Sydney properties are also now under investigation by the NSW Police and Crime Commission.

Following what is understood to have been a whistleblower complaint, Ms Rogers resigned as Mr Thorburn’s chief of staff last December, over what was described at the time by Mr Thorburn as a “lapse in judgment” in a note to staff.

Mr Thorburn is not being investigated and is not suspected by police of any wrongdoing.

In April he said he was personally hurt by the allegations against Ms Rogers describing it as a “personal breach of trust” with someone whom he had “a longstanding personal relationship.”

The royal commission into banking and financial services requested information from the NAB relating to Ms Rogers and the Human Group prior to Mr Thorburn’s appearance in front of the commission but he was not questioned on the subject.

Leo Shanahan is chief reporter at YourMoney