Fraudster’s Canadian victim: Kevin Rudd was on the chase

A Canadian victim of serial fraudster Hamish McLaren says he met Kevin Rudd in an airport in 2003 to ask for his help.

Former spy James Leigh in Vernon, British Columbia. Victim Neville Summach paid him substantial amounts of money to help recover funds. Picture: Jessica Zais

Back in the day when he was Labour­’s foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd was in Canada making enquiries about the serial fraudster Hamish McLaren, then known as Hamish Watson.

In 2003, Mr Rudd, who would go on to become Australia’s prime minister, was in Canada, princip­ally to investigate claims that some North American security agencies may have had advanced warning about the 2002 Bali bombings.

Former PM Kevin Rudd. Picture: Kym Smith

At this time, Watson had fled to Canada and a host of Aust­ralian creditors were after him, including­ some Queensland businessmen who had lost money to the fraudster.

A Canadian victim, Neville Summach, who had lost $2 million to Watson, told The Aust­ralian he met with Mr Rudd at the Kelowna airport in British Colum­bia in 2003 to discuss the frauds committed by Watson. He was desperate and hoped Mr Rudd might help get his money back, or bring Watson to justice.

Mr Summach’s ex-wife, Joanie, confirmed the meeting.

Before going into the meeting with Mr Rudd, Mr Summach jotted­ down some points on a Starbucks napkin. He still has that napkin.

In a statement, Mr Rudd’s spokesman told The Australian the former prime minister did not recall the meeting.

“These events go back some 15 years … what our records do indic­ate is that he did travel to North America in July 2003.

“As for the other matters you raise, we have no record of Mr Rudd having had contact with the local people you refer to. Nor does Mr Rudd have any recollection of that contact. He does not have any recollection of any matters concerning Hamish McLaren.

“But we would emphasise that this is a long time ago and Mr Rudd cannot discount the possib­ility that some of these matters may have been raised.”

Mr Summach said he presented Mr Rudd with evidence of Watson’s crimes, as well as with a fake passport Watson had left behind­ when he fled Canada, in the hope that he could be brought to justice.

“We had a meeting, my wife and I, with Kevin Rudd,” Mr Summach said. “He took Watson’s passport, he said he was going to assist when he got back, he apologised for the actions of what he said was a national.”

Mr Summach never heard from Mr Rudd again.

TIMELINE: The life of a conman

The encounter is revealed in the latest episode of The Aust­ralian’s podcast, Who The Hell Is Hamish?, released today.

The investigation into the fraudster’s life has revealed a number of occasions when his action­s were brought to the attention of police and authorities.

The conman was finally arres­t­ed in July 2017 and has pleaded guilty to 18 counts of fraud for stealing more than $7m from victims­ between 2011 and 2017.

Hamish Watson, as he was known in the early 2000s, in Kelowna, British Columbia.

In 2001, shortly after he fled Australia upon the failed public float of Harts Australasia, a Brisbane­ accounting firm he was involved with, McLaren — then known by his birth name of Hamish­ Watson — landed in Canada, where his eye fell on cashed-up locals.

Among them was Mr Summach, who lost $2m after trusting McLaren, an apparently successful futures trader, to invest the proceeds from a house sale.

When it became obvious that McLaren had left Canada and would not be returning the money — and all legal avenues had failed — Mr Summach turned to James Leigh, a private investig­ator who claimed to have previously worked in Canadian and US intelligence agencies.

Mr Leigh charged an upfront fee of $250,000 to determine whether tracking down the stolen money was possible. “I know where the money is and I know how to retrieve it,” he told The Australian.

“There’s no way to track it unless you do it like I do — on your feet and using any trick you can.”

But Mr Summach grew tired of the fees he was charging and ended his dealing with Mr Leigh. He never retrieved his $2m.