FORMER ATSIC commissioner "Sugar" Ray Robinson has lost his appeal to Queensland's highest court over convictions for Commonwealth fraud.
The Court of Appeal in Brisbane on Tuesday dismissed Robert Raymond "Ray'' Robinson's bid to overturn a jury's finding that he was guilty of two counts of using his ATSIC position to sell cars without proper authorisation.
A Toowoomba District Court jury in April last year was told Robinson, then 62, used his position for improper purposes by sending two letters under the ATSIC banner in a bid to sell 10 vehicles owned by the Charleville-based Bidjara Aboriginal corporations in 2004.
The jury was told Robinson, then 62, obtained no proper ATSIC approval before selling the vehicles for $114,000 and then using $45,000 to fund legal proceedings against him at the time.
Robinson was subsequently found guilty of two counts of using his position as an ATSIC official to obtain a benefit.
Robinson, who was sentenced to 12-months jail and ordered to repay the Commonwealth $45,000, appealed the Toowoomba jury's convictions on five grounds.
Those grounds that the trial judge had erred in not staying the indictment, the judge should have excluded particular evidence and that the guilty verdicts were unreasonable.
However, the Court of Appeal dismissed Robison's appeal in a unanimous 3-0 decision.
President Margaret McMurdo, in her written decision, said the trial judge had not made any error regarding the application to stay indictment and that the jury's verdicts were reasonable.
"The combination of the nature of the charges, their age and the course of the prosecution case did not warrant the staying of the indictment,'' Justice McMurdo said.
"Having regard to the way in which the transactions progressed and (Robinson's) enthusiastic and aggressive support for the sale of the vehicles...it was open for the jury to conclude that (his) intention in writing and sending the letters was to gain an advantage as particularised (by the prosecution).''
Justices John Muir and David North, in their reasons, agreed.
Robinson, who has attended almost every hearing regarding this long, on-going matter, was absent when the judgment was handed down.
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