Title trustee Thomas Grahame Greenaway ‘used fund as own ATM’, Geraldton District Court trial told

A Geraldton businessman is alleged to have used a native title trust as his “own personal ATM”, setting up a bogus loan agreement to take money whenever he wished to prop up his investments into a failing local hotel. Former Durack Liberal Party treasurer and financial adviser Thomas Grahame Greenaway, 70, is facing trial in the Geraldton District Court on 33 counts of stealing and one count each of gaining benefit for another by fraud, and stealing as a servant. RELATED NEWS Over the next three weeks, State prosecutor Jason Chu will attempt to prove Mr Greenaway abused his position by stealing almost $3 million from Yugunga-Nya People’s Trust, the native title claimant group for lands in and around Meekatharra, as its trustee in 2013 and 2014. Members of Mr Greenaway’s family were present in the court, with the prosecution alleging Mr Greenaway made 33 transfers totalling $2.9m over 2013 and 2014 to buy shares in the Freemasons Hotel in the name FAWRKT Pty Ltd, a company of which he was the sole share holder. Mr Chu told the jury the money was used to buy shares in and ultimately full ownership of the Freemasons Hotel, which is now no longer owned by the company. The company name is made up of Mr Greenaway’s wife’s and children’s initials. Two days after the initial transfer, Mr Greenaway executed a loan agreement from the trust for the same amount, signed by him as trustee and loan taker and witnessed by an Aboriginal elder who is now deceased. Mr Chu said the “sham” contract allowed Mr Greenaway to take further unspecified amounts of money from the trust and pass them off as loans on an interest-only basis until the agreement expiry date, against just 100 units of the Freemasons Hotel ownership as security. “When he ran out of money to keep the business afloat, he turned to the trust and it become his own personal ATM machine,” Mr Chu said. On March 9, 2017 the trust’s advisory committee voted to remove Mr Greenaway as trustee. Mr Greenaway objected but resigned after civil proceedings. Defence lawyer George Giudice said Mr Greenaway legitimately lent money to FAWRKT Pty Ltd of which he was the trustee and not the beneficial owner. “He never got anything himself other than what he was paid for services and what he was owed,” he said. “He in fact leant money to the trust before the native title claim was established and earned the trust millions of dollars through his hard work.”