A magistrate has dismissed some charges against former Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark and his family after an 18-month committal hearing unexpectedly resumed on Thursday.
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Lawyers made final submissions in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on whether there was enough evidence for a jury to consider 70 charges relating to almost $550,000 of unauthorised legal fees allegedly obtained over nine years in a joint criminal enterprise by Mr Clark, his wife Trudy and son Jeremy.
Those charges were among 1171 laid against the Clarks and another of Mr Clark's sons Aaron after a seven-year investigation. The Clarks have strongly denied all charges.
But on Thursday, magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg dismissed four of 25 charges against Trudy Clark, relating to $52,000. Three of 25 charges against Geoff were dismissed relating to $41,400 and two of 20 charges against Jeremy relating to $40,000.
The magistrate believed there was sufficient evidence for the remaining 61 charges to go to trial.
The fate of hundreds of other charges is yet to be decided with the hearing scheduled to continue on Friday.
Barristers for Geoff, Trudy and Jeremy had earlier told the court it was impossible to prove alleged fraudulent payments made in respect of legal fees were not authorised by committees of management.
But crown prosecutor Justin Lewis said assessments about authorisation did not exist in a vacuum.
"One has to remember that we're talking about a fairly small close-knit community and the idea that payments of this magnitude have been authorised, even in the absence of either Violet Clark or Lionel Harradine and that they don't get to hear about it at any point in time over a period of years, is extraordinary and plays a part then in the way you would assess the likelihood of whether authorisation occurred," he said.
Mr Lewis said the court must consider the likelihood of entities such as KWC, FAT, Marr Land Council and Gariwerd paying nearly $550,000 of expenses to extinguish an individual's legal debt.
"Notwithstanding that the individual is Geoff Clark," he said.
"That is particularly pertinent to the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust which as its name suggests is a trust for the benefits of its members. Every dollar spent for personal legal fees is a dollar that can not be spent on other members of that trust.
"The extraordinary amount extended on legal fees sits very ill with the nature of the trust. The same is true for the Maar Land Council, it's very difficult to understand what business the council has in paying the personal legal fees of Geoffrey Clark."