Bail relief for accused NAB fraudster Rosemary Rogers

Cartoon: Rod Clement.

Some good Easter news from the courts for former NAB boss Andrew Thorburn’s chief of staff Rosemary Rogers.

Thanks to the kindness of Michael Allen, the Deputy Chief Magistrate of the Local Court of NSW, Rogers is free to pack her bags and head to her coast house at Bellbrae, just off Victoria’s Great Ocean Road.

Perfectly timed for this long weekend.

On Tuesday, the bail terms of Rogers — who has been charged with bribery and fraud for her alleged part in a multi-million-dollar swindling of NAB — were relaxed.

Previously, the 43-year-old Rogers had to live in her $3.8 million Williamstown house (the one whose $380,000 deposit was allegedly paid by NAB through a consultant) and sign in once a day at the local police station.

Now Rogers is also allowed to reside at her beloved Bellbrae weekender (the rural jewel of her $6.2m property portfolio). While the former two-decade NAB veteran is there, she is to sign in daily at the nearby Torquay police station. The four-bedroom Bellbrae retreat had a few entries on the expansive list of charges made by NSW Police.

It is alleged that on August 14, 2014 — exactly a fortnight after Thorburn replaced Cameron Clyne as NAB’s CEO and Rogers’ direct boss — Rogers had $128,555 of patio work done on the property.

Rogers’ co-accused Helen Rosamond (the head of The Human Group, which provided executive services for NAB, and whom Rogers’ bail terms preclude any contact with), allegedly paid for that work to help secure $40m of contracts with the bank.

And there was more to come.

Beginning on May 20, 2016, Rogers allegedly began another $468,726 of renovations at the property, which she’ll be able to get a bit more use out of as her case grinds through the court.

And, in more good news, the Friday and Saturday forecasts look terrific.

Thank you, your honour.

Earning her money

It might be the game they play in heaven but Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle couldn’t be embroiled in a more hellish scenario thanks to her code’s star Israel Folau.

The footballer has extended the code’s purgatory, yesterday requesting a code of conduct hearing to discuss his fundamentalist approach to Instagram.

It will make for an interesting next week or more for Castle, who ran rugby league’s sometimes scandalous Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs before she took over at RA in January last year.

Rugby Australia chief Raelene Castle. Picture: AFP

Just as well she’s paid $815,255 a year, as the newly-released RA annual report reveals.

That was better than the $775,000 it appears her predecessor Bill Pulver was paid in 2017, his last year at the helm.

For the record, in the year to December 31, RA under Castle made a bottom-line profit of $5.2m profit, up from a $3.9m loss the year before.

The code’s chairman Cameron Clyne — the former NAB chief executive, who promoted Rosemary Rogers to be his chief of staff — has predicted the code will make a loss this year.

That’s due to a forecast drop in broadcast and match-day revenues because the Rugby World Cup is being held in Japan for six weeks from the end of September.

Businesswoman Ann Sherry — the NAB director overseeing the search for the bank’s next CEO — joined the RA board in mid-2012.

Margin Call can confirm that non-exec director Sherry, who is also chair of cruise ship company Carnival Australia, stepped down from the board at the code’s AGM meeting.

Seems a good call as the Folau debacle continues, with Sherry now able to watch it all unfold from afar in London.

Hitting the Wall

While Crown Resorts director Andrew Demetriou and his fellow board members consider gaming billionaire James Packer’s desire to sell out of the local casino business, Demetriou’s old mate from Acquire Learning, John Wall, is facing much more pressing financial considerations.

Acquire MD John Wall at the company's Armadale office in Melbourne.

In a dramatic turn, Wall — the founder and managing director of the failed Melbourne-based education operation, the collapse of which is still the subject of Victorian Supreme Court proceedings — has filed for bankruptcy.

Demetriou, who before Gillon McLachlan was the networked head of the Australian Football League, was a member of Acquire’s advisory board, for which he was paid up to $900,000 a year.

Not bad terms for an advisory gig.

Bankruptcy documents seen by Margin Call reveal that Wall, 45, who describes himself as a “business consultant”, owes Chris Jordan’s Australian Taxation Office $9.7m.

The documents also reveal that most of the trappings of the businessman’s high life are long gone.

According to the paperwork, Wall, has had to flog off his flashy toys, including his Aston Martin and Mercedes Benz cars (worth a combined $260,000), Rolex watches (worth $35,000) and $5m worth of Melbourne property.

But all is not lost — at least, not yet.

He still has nine racehorses that Wall says are being looked after by his parents, although there is one major hitch.

The failed businessman still owes Gerry Harvey, one of Australia’s richest men, $20,000 for the nags via the retailer’s Magic Millions.

Harvey (worth $1.58 billion on the Stensholt Index) is holding the paperwork for the horses until Wall settles his outstanding bill.

Given his bankruptcy, it could be some wait.