City councillor: Guilty, sacked

Alex de Vos
A Geelong councillor has been convicted, ordered to pay $18,000 and kicked off council for failing to declare a conflict of interest.
David Saunderson was charged in May with failing to leave council chambers during a vote on developer Lascorp’s plans to expand Ocean Grove Market Place.
Saunderson was also charged and found guilty of failing to declare donations from Lascorp to his 2004 council election campaign.
He was found guilty on both charges in Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. Saunderson was ordered to quit his councillor role and banned from running for council election for seven years.
In 2007 Saunderson was found guilty of failing to declare more than $17,000 in donations to his 2004 council election campaign.
In his defence, barrister Peter Matthew told the court Saunderson had not read the council report about Lascorp’s plans before voting on the recommendation.
Mr Matthew said Saunderson admitted he was “foolish and stupid” to “get himself in this situation”.
“He only realised after the vote (that there was a conflict-of-interest) is the only credible explanation,” Mr Matthew told the court.
“He hadn’t read the report and he wasn’t listening when Cr (Jan) Farrell spoke (about the Lascorp matter).”
However, in a letter presented to the court and addressed to Minister for Local Government Richard Wynne, Saunderson said he “failed to observe the indication in the council papers that Joemax Development was a Lascorp company, so creating a conflict-of-interest”.
In his closing statement, Prosecutor Nick Tweedie told the court Saunderson’s evidence was “unreliable and unlikely to be true”.
“One compelling piece of evidence is the clear discrepancy in what he said was the reason why he did not disclose a conflict of interest,” Mr Tweedie said.
“On his own admissions, he said he did not tell the full truth because he was embarrassed.
“He had little regard to his obligations and duty of office and really doesn’t care much about conflict of interest.”
Magistrate Peter Reardon rejected Saunderson’s arguments, telling the court it was “paramount councillors pay particular heed and attention when dealing with company funds”.
“I find your explanation incredulous in light of the fact you have a prior conviction. One would think you would be meticulous and you would have attended the meeting having read into the report,” Magistrate Reardon said.
Saunderson fled Geelong Magistrates’ Court after the verdict.
He refused to comment apart from saying he would “consider (his) options”.