Rosemary Rogers: Letter to NAB that exposed Rose’s thorns

The alleged multimillion-dollar swindle went on for five years. And then an anonymous letter turned it all on its head.

Rosemary Rogers leaving Surry Hills police station after turning herself in. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Early in December 2017, an anonymous letter arrived in the NAB mailroom that would trigger one of the most shameful scandals in the history of banking in Australia.

A $2.2 million alleged fraud and the alleged swindling of ­nearly $4m of perks — including ­extravagant overseas family holidays, multiple gifted motor boats, extensive house renovations, even a deposit on a trophy home — doled out to the National Australia Bank CEO’s chief of staff, Rosemary Rogers.

It had allegedly gone on for five years, spanning the last 20 months of Cameron Clyne’s time as CEO and most of the reign of his successor, Andrew Thorburn.

Humiliatingly for Australia’s fourth-biggest bank, it had evaded NAB’s internal risk management systems. Neither Thorburn nor his chairman, Ken Henry, had any idea about the alleged racket. Or at least they didn’t until each opened their envelopes and read their respective copies of the anonymous letter.

Its author, who despite some intriguing accusations remains unknown to the bank, suggested there was something inappropriate about Rogers’s dealings with The Human Group, a long-time contractor to the bank run by her associate-turned-friend Helen Rosamond.

Days after the letter was received, NAB’s internal auditors — who had not examined the chief executive’s office in any ­serious way for years — looked into dealings between the pair. What they found was troubling.

At the time, Rogers was on leave and moving into a new trophy home in south Melbourne’s Williamstown she had bought for $3.8m, a sum that had raised eyebrows in her wider family.

Rogers and her husband, Anthony, a plumber, were trading up after selling a more modest house in the neighbouring bayside suburb of Newport that they had reno­vated over a decade.

Thorburn summoned her for a meeting on December 11.

A senior source at NAB who was briefed on the meeting said Thorburn asked Rogers about a suspect transaction involving The Human Group, a firm paid by the bank to provide travel, accommodation and travel services for its executive team. Bizarrely, the payment seemed to be related to Rogers’s new property.

According to the source, ­Rogers told Thorburn that Rosamond had lent her a bridging loan “as a friend” to help her buy the house.

Thorburn would later describe that as a “lapse of judgement”. NSW Police have alleged it was a lot more than a solitary “lapse”.

By the end of the meeting, Rogers had resigned, ending her two-decade career at the bank.

After further investigation by the bank’s auditors, a stunned Thorburn had referred the situation to NSW police. The $70 billion banking giant was now claiming it was the victim.

No client was more important to The Human Group than NAB.

The corporate relationship between the two businesses went back to 2006, when John Stewart was running the bank.

The Human Group’s first project — overseen by Helen Rosamond’s now former husband Geoff — was a simulated rock-climbing exercise in Hong Kong to teach Stewart’s NAB team about leadership. From Melbourne, Sydney, London and the US, in flew senior ­executives in the bank’s international operations to a ritzy — and secure — hotel on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong harbour.

The executives apparently loved it. Shareholders — who ultimately paid for it — didn’t have an opinion. They were never told.

Extravagant “offsites” became a hallmark of the bank, which for almost two decades has underperformed its big four peers.

“NAB had this habit of flying up to Wolgan Valley for offsites,” a former executive said.

The luxurious Blue Mountains resort was a favoured spot for executives to discuss strategy and — in an irony not lost on some ­attendees — cost-cutting.

Rogers, too, was a regular at the resort. Among the 56 bribery charges against her are $233,529 in alleged corrupt benefits received over four visits with her family, sister and brother-in-law.

Helen Rosamond was charged with 56 counts of bribery and two of fraud involving $6.6m. She spent last weekend behind bars, before making $200,000 bail.

Police were intrigued to learn that when relatives came along, they paid their share to Rogers.

The same arrangement appears to have been in place for overseas holidays, each the subject of charges for alleged bribery paid by Rosamond to Rogers. These family holiday destinations included Europe (for an alleged $187,740), Fijian private island Laucala (for an alleged $244,933) and the US (for an alleged $486,164). All up, NAB spent $118m over 12 years with The Human Group, NSW police say.

None of The Human Group’s other clients — which included blue chip corporate customers Kmart, Queensland-headquartered insurer Suncorp and listed shopping centre owner Vicinity — came close to that sort of spending with the outfit headquartered in North Sydney.

The Human Group’s revenue in 2015 was almost $10m. The majority was the $8m-a-year NAB paid the business during the period under investigation by NSW police.

By mid-2012, Helen Rosamond had taken over day-to-day running of the business from then husband Geoff. He stood down as a director in August 2015 after ­assaulting Helen and now former friend Jeremy Best at 3am after finding the pair kissing outside the Rosamond Mosman mansion, which they have since sold.

The messy separation of the Rosamonds’ assets rumbled through the family court until June last year.

Meanwhile, the bank’s voluminous use of The Human Group’s services brought Rogers and Rosamond close together.

“They became best friends,” says a source who closely observed the pair over many years.

Called “Rose” at work, Rogers was a divisive figure at the bank.

After an earlier stint writing copy for brochures that spruiked NAB products, she rose up to the CEO’s office when Stewart was running the bank. Her title was inflated to “chief of staff” after Clyne succeeded Stewart in 2009. At the time, not a single staff member reported to Rogers. “She was just a general office manager,” a former NAB executive said.

Over time, her power grew. She was gatekeeper to the CEO’s office. John Simpson, NAB’s head of corporate affairs in the Clyne era, said: “There was a ‘force field’ around the CEO’s office at NAB. Even those with urgent, pressing matters for the attention of the CEO found the welcome mat frequently missing.”

Another former NAB executive said she was “like a rottweiler” for the introverted Clyne, who was allergic to confrontation.

After Thorburn was appointed CEO, he sounded out staff about Rogers. Should he keep her?

“Move her on,” advised Dallas McInerney, then NAB’s head of government and public policy.

Others gave the same advice. None had knowledge of the alleged fraud operation. Their concern was that Rogers was destabilising. She too readily wielded the CEO’s name and exacerbated divisions in the bank’s executive team.

Fatefully, Thorburn decided to keep her. Less than five years later, his tumultuous time running NAB officially came to an end on February 28. That same Thursday, Geoff Rosamond was handed a one-year, 10-month custodial sentence for the assault of his former wife and Best.

The next day, Helen Rosamond was charged with 56 counts of bribery and two of fraud involving $6.6m. She spent last weekend behind bars. After her $200,000 bail was processed, she returned to her inner-Sydney Potts Point terrace on Monday.

By Tuesday, Rogers had flown from Melbourne to Sydney and turned herself in to police. She was also charged with 56 counts of bribery and one of fraud. Passionate traveller Rogers has handed in her passport and is confined to her Williamstown home every night. Police have not ruled out further charges.