A former Geraldton deputy mayor and hotelier has been jailed after being found guilty of stealing almost $3 million from a Western Australian Aboriginal charitable trust.
Thomas Graham Greenaway was convicted of 33 stealing charges relating to the theft of $2.9 million from the Yugunga-Nya people's trust while acting as a trustee.
The trust was formed in 2004 to manage Native Title income made on Yugunga-Nya country and for the benefit of Yugunga-Nya people, who hail from Western Australia's Mid West region from towns including Meekatharra and Cue.
Having previously worked as a financial planner and as deputy mayor and councillor of the Geraldton Council for 15 years, Greenaway was appointed trustee of the Yugunga-Nya People's Trust in its founding year.
The Perth District Court found the 73-year-old stole $2,909.303.33 in 33 transactions between 2013 and 2017, with Greenway using more than $2 million on the stolen funds to support the failing Freemasons Hotel in Geraldton, a business he also funded with close to $300,000 of his own money.
During sentencing, judge Michael John Bowden said Greenaway had stolen from vulnerable Indigenous people.
"They trusted you and you clearly breached that trust," he said.
"Whether you thought that because of the royalties that they were receiving increased from some $72,000 to around about $3.8 million and they had plenty of money, I don't know, but certainly, you took money away from people who were entitled it."
Originally convicted on 34 charges, the sentence comes after he won an appeal in 2022 which saw one charge struck out and a retrial ordered for the remaining charges.
The court found Greenaway used the stolen funds to support his unprofitable hotel business, which began experiencing numerous financial troubles in 2013.
"Your involvement in the Freemasons Hotel has ended up in a disastrous position for you," Judge Bowden said.
"However, when you look at your conduct, it was deliberately dishonest over a long period of time."
In handing down the sentence, Judge Bowden acknowledged Greenaway's return of approximately $700,000 to the trust and ordered him to repay the remaining $2,179,533.58.
Greenaway was sentenced to five years and nine months imprisonment, backdated to July 2023 due to time already served.
The 73-year-old will be eligible for parole after serving two years and nine months of his sentence.
