<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>334296</docID> <postdate>2024-11-29 11:43:32</postdate> <headline>Indigenous leader jailed for six years over $1m theft</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-334297" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20240911176630940913-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Geoff Clark stole more than $920,000 from four Indigenous organisations between 2001 and 2015. (Con Chronis/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Tara Cosoleto</strong> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>An indigenous leader who stole almost $1 million from Aboriginal organisations has been thrown behind bars for more than six years.</strong></p> <p>Three separate juries convicted Geoff Clark, 72, on 25 charges of theft, obtaining financial advantage by deception, perjury and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.</p> <p>The former chairman of the disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was found to have stolen $922,214 from four indigenous organisations between 2001 and 2015.</p> <p>Clark used $404,344 to pay legal fees as he faced criminal and civil proceedings in the early 2000s over historical cases of gang rape and an assault.</p> <p>He was ultimately convicted of obstructing police at Warrnambool's Criterion Hotel, while a civil jury found he led two pack rapes against a teenage girl in the 1970s.</p> <p>A further $56,020 went to housing expenses, including rates and electricity and water bills.</p> <p>County Court Judge Michael O'Connell on Friday described the offending as "carefully calculated" as he sentenced Clark to six years and two months behind bars.</p> <p>Clark will be eligible for parole after serving three years and nine months.</p> <p>"You contrived to conflate your own personal interests with the interests of the community," Judge O'Connell said.</p> <p>"You betrayed its trust."</p> <p>Clark, who watched the hearing via video link from prison, looked down at his hands as the sentence was delivered.</p> <p>Clark's son Jeremy, 51, was also sentenced on Friday to two years and two months in prison after he was found guilty of theft and false accounting.</p> <p>However, his jail term was wholly suspended.</p> <p>A jury determined Jeremy Clark had stolen $231,969 from the Aboriginal organisations to help fund his father's legal fees.</p> <p>He also pleaded guilty to wrongly obtaining $10,780 as a grant from the federal government.</p> <p>Jeremy Clark was given a recognisance release order for his plea, requiring him to be of good behaviour for two years.</p> </body>