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Don Rowe RSL Chief exposed as a crook (Read 262 times)
red baron
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Don Rowe RSL Chief exposed as a crook
Feb 14th, 2018 at 3:31pm
 
Comment Red Baron...'This arsehole is a disgrace to the uniform he once wore. They should throw him in prison then throwaway the key. He is an affront to every man and woman who donned the uniform and went to war for their Country" .....

NSW RSL inquiry report recommends disgraced former president Don Rowe be referred to police

By Nicole Chettle

Updated Mon at 3:54pm


RSL president Don Rowe
Photo: Don Rowe admitted to the inquiry that he misused charity money. (ABC News)

Related Story: NSW RSL under investigation for new financial irregularity cases

Related Story: Phones, flights and accommodation: How ex-RSL NSW boss blew charity cash

Related Story: No more Remembrance Day poppies to be sold in NSW



Map:  Sydney 2000

Disgraced former News South Wales RSL president Don Rowe has been referred to police by the State Government.



Key points:
•NSW Minister Matt Kean referred Mr Rowe to police on Friday
•Mr Rowe apologised for his actions during last year's inquiry
•When he resigned in 2014, the public was told it was due to "ill health"



The State Government today released the report by former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin after a year-long independent inquiry into the organisation, which wrapped up in November.

The inquiry heard evidence Mr Rowe spent $475,000 on a corporate credit card over a six-year period, including $213,000 in cash withdrawals.

There was evidence his son used a presidential suite at a four-star Sydney hotel for seven years. The room was paid for by the RSL.

The inquiry also heard Mr Rowe used his corporate credit card to cover meals, mortgage repayments, mobile phones and flights for family members during his 11-year tenure.

When he resigned in 2014, the RSL and the public was wrongly informed the decision was due to ill health.

NSW Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean said he referred Mr Rowe to police on Friday.

"The report details the shameful and disgraceful behaviour of former president Don Rowe and the culture which allowed him to get away with it," he said.

Former RSL NSW president Don Rowe lays a wreath.
Photo: Former RSL NSW president Don Rowe lays a wreath at a function. (Wikimedia Commons: Bidgee)



"It also highlights appalling oversight, shocking business practices and leadership which can only be described at best as being utterly inept."

During his evidence, Mr Rowe apologised to the organisations involved "and to the members of the public, who have donated money to each of the RSL in NSW."

Mr Rowe can be prosecuted over the matters considered by the inquiry, but the evidence he provided at the hearings cannot be used against him.

'Ineptitude and cronyism'

The report is scathing of the NSW RSL and in one part laments: "The integrity of each of RSL NSW, RSL WBI and RSL LifeCare has been compromised by a combination of sheer ineptitude and cronyism and in the case of RSL NSW, disreputable conduct of the long-serving president, Mr Rowe."

"A sad consequence of the exposure of this conduct is the prospect of a loss of trust in the RSL."

Mr Kean said Mr Rowe showed complete disregard for thousands of volunteers and one of NSW's most-loved organisations.

"He used it as his personal plaything. It was disgraceful behaviour," he said.

James Brown was elected president of the NSW RSL in May last year.

Mr Brown said he accepted the report's findings and apologised for the organisation's failures.


"We have lost our way in the last decade. The leadership at times has been rotten to the core," he said.

Mr Brown said Ms Bergin found fundraising practices at a sub-branch level in NSW were broken.

He said the NSW RSL would centralise fundraising and is working with the Department of Fair Trading with the aim of resuming fundraising by Remembrance Day in November.

The state RSL will not be fundraising for itself this Anzac Day.

"This Anzac Day for the first time we will be fundraising for another charity," Mr Brown said.

"Our 40,000 members will be on the streets of this state raising money for the 2018 Invictus Games.

"We think that's a critical event to look after veterans and their families ... Every dollar that is put in a bucket on Anzac Day at services that we run will go straight to the Invictus Games."
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Grappler Truth Teller Feller
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Re: Don Rowe RSL Chief exposed as a crook
Reply #1 - Feb 14th, 2018 at 4:16pm
 
I caught the tail end of this one on the news last night, shook my head, and said:-

"Is nothing sacred?"

I find this kind of behaviour totally unconscionable, and utterly reprehensible in one accorded such trust and honour.
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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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Re: Don Rowe RSL Chief exposed as a crook
Reply #2 - Feb 14th, 2018 at 4:25pm
 
Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Feb 14th, 2018 at 4:16pm:
I caught the tail end of this one on the news last night, shook my head, and said:-

"Is nothing sacred?"

I find this kind of behaviour totally unconscionable, and utterly reprehensible in one accorded such trust and honour.


Indeed.  How did it get passed the RSL's auditors?  This bloke has ripped off an Australian charitable icon.....not Union funds for example.

Will we see a Royal Commission?  No way.
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Valkie
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Re: Don Rowe RSL Chief exposed as a crook
Reply #3 - Feb 14th, 2018 at 6:14pm
 
Pollies do it all the time.

Then they get the Sheila preggers and give her a better job.

One crook, all crooks
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