Costa urges firms to consider hiring De Stefano

Andrew Mathieson
GEELONG companies should consider hiring disgraced former Geelong mayor Frank De Stefano, according to one of the city’s leading businessmen.
Frank Costa said he would offer De Stefano a job with his fruit and vegetable company but was unable because head office had moved to Melbourne.
“If we still had our main office in Geelong then I certainly would have considered a position in the organisation if one was available but we don’t have it at the moment,” Mr Costa said.
De Stefano was sentenced to a minimum seven-year term for embezzling $8.6 million from clients of his Geelong accountancy firm.
He was found to have wasted most of the cash at Crown Casino, including a quadriplegic’s $5 million compensation pay-out. Tom Papic later died in 2001, aged 33, before De Stefano was jailed.
“What Frank did, nobody in Geelong is going to excuse him,” Mr Costa said.
“Whether he is able to get a job in Geelong or not, I don’t know.”
A parole board this week released the 60-year-old De Stefano from Lara’s Margoneet Correctional Centre to serve the remaining six months in home detention before being released on parole.
Mr Costa said De Stefano, despite his flaws, had a lot to offer with his business acumen.
“Otherwise, what he could do is slip away into a corner, take the easy way out and receive a pension or unemployment benefits,” Mr Costa said.
Geelong should not forget that De Stefano was a strong community supporter “before he went crazy”, he said.
“Somebody in Frank’s position, who has committed a terrible crime like he did and wants to come back to a place like Geelong, which is a big country town where everybody knows everybody, it’s important that he does two things,” Mr Costa said.
“One, make strong community support like he used to do beforehand, so he is putting something back in, and, two, he should get a job to become a contributor to society, earn money, pay tax and not be a receiver from society.”