Disgraced indigenous leader accused of improperly obtaining dead grandmother’s estate funds


DISGRACED indigenous leader Geoff Clark has been accused of improperly obtaining funds from his dead grandmother’s estate, as police ramp up their probe into the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust.

Documents sent to the Aboriginal Affairs Minister allege a bundle of shares in the Framlingham Trust have been transferred from Mr Clark’s deceased grandmother, Alice Maud Clark, to Mr Clark.

It is alleged that this is contrary to the will of Alice Clark, a senior Framlingham elder, who died in 2009.

Victoria Police is already examining a series of allegations about Mr Clark’s shareholdings in the Framlingham Trust as part of its two-year probe into alleged anomalies in Framlingham’s accounts.

A letter from Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana, dated February 2016, confirms the police interest in Mr Clark’s shares. It says: “Thank you for your correspondence ... the matter will be assessed by our tasking and co-ordination area for allocation.”

In August, Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Natalie Hutchins was asked to investigate an amendment to the Framlingham share register, which allegedly shows Ms Clark’s 800 shares were transferred to Mr Clark last October. Records indicate that probate on her will, which nominates her seven children as beneficiaries, has not yet been granted.


The State Government tonight said it was considering appointing an administrator to the trust, adding the Framlingham trust committee was responsible for keeping tabs on Framlingham shares.

“The Minister is considering whether there has been a failure to comply with the Aboriginal Lands Act 1970 and if there are relevant grounds for commencing the process under the Act to determine whether an administrator should be appointed.”

“The Framlingham Aboriginal Trust Committee of management has the responsibility to maintain the shareholder register and to ratify the transferring of shares. “

“Both parties have engaged legal representation to resolve the share transfer dispute.”

The executor of the will was originally Maisie Davis Clark, Mr Clark’s mother, but she has formally transferred this duty to one of her sisters.

Shareholders in Framlingham have voting rights on who should get a spot on the board; the more shares, the more influential their vote. Mr Clark won back a spot on the board at the most recent annual general meeting on July 25.

Mr Clark did not respond to questions from the Herald Sun yesterday but has previously dismissed doubts about his Framlingham shareholdings.

The allegations come amid concern over new Aboriginal Victoria executive director Jason Mifsud’s posting on his Twitter feed of a photograph of himself with Mr Clark.

In April the AFL’s former indigenous adviser, appointed to the AV job by Premier Daniel Andrews in January, posted the Twitter picture with the phrase “continuing our connection to country, culture, ceremony and family”.

In 2007, a civil jury found Mr Clark had led pack rapes of a woman in Warrnambool in 1971, and ordered he pay her $20,000. Mr Clark, who was never charged, later declared himself bankrupt, and the woman has never been paid.