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Corrupt former NT government staffer walks free after guilty verdict | Corrupt former NT government staffer walks free after guilty verdict |
(about 2 hours later) | |
The former chief of staff to a Northern Territory government minister won’t spend any time behind bars after being found guilty of corruptly receiving travel kickbacks. | The former chief of staff to a Northern Territory government minister won’t spend any time behind bars after being found guilty of corruptly receiving travel kickbacks. |
Paul Mossman was convicted of two counts of corruptly receiving a benefit from Latitude Travel’s Xana Kamitsis in 2014 while he was chief of staff to the then Country Liberals minister Bess Price. | Paul Mossman was convicted of two counts of corruptly receiving a benefit from Latitude Travel’s Xana Kamitsis in 2014 while he was chief of staff to the then Country Liberals minister Bess Price. |
Justice Peter Barr sentenced Mossman to a 12-month suspended sentence in the NT supreme court on Tuesday. Mossman was facing a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. | |
Barr said while Mossman abused a senior position of trust, he was the primary carer of a teenage daughter and jail time would impact on his role. | Barr said while Mossman abused a senior position of trust, he was the primary carer of a teenage daughter and jail time would impact on his role. |
In his sentencing submissions, crown prosecutor David Morters compared Mossman’s crimes to those of the disgraced former New South Wales minister Eddie Obeid. | In his sentencing submissions, crown prosecutor David Morters compared Mossman’s crimes to those of the disgraced former New South Wales minister Eddie Obeid. |
He said Mossman should receive a similar penalty to the former Labor powerbroker, who in December was sentenced to a maximum five years in jail for misconduct in public office. | He said Mossman should receive a similar penalty to the former Labor powerbroker, who in December was sentenced to a maximum five years in jail for misconduct in public office. |
Barr said the 44-year-old showed an “undignified eagerness” to ingratiate himself with the travel agent by offering her more than $300,000 in exclusive government contracts. | |
Mossman made it clear he’d be grateful to accept any travel benefits as a reward for favouring Kamitsis with significant commercial advantage, Barr said. | |
“Corruption is corrosive and ultimately destructive of good governance,” he said. “You were in a senior position of trust vis-a-vis the minister and the government of the Northern Territory. You betrayed that trust.” | |
Last October a jury found Mossman guilty of having service fees waived and a deferral of full payment for return flights to Sydney with his daughter and to New York with his son in 2014. | |
Barr said the fact that Mossman had no prior convictions and was of otherwise good character bore little relevance. | |
Morters argued that a harsh sentence was vital to send a message to other politicians and bureaucrats, who abuse powerful positions. | |
“That message [must be] sent loud and clear ... so the people of the Northern Territory can have confidence in their elected members and the people they employ,” he said. | |
The prosecution also argued Mossman should receive a similar sentence to Kamitsis, who in 2015 got a two-year jail term for a related offence. The sentence was suspended after 19 months. | |
But defence lawyer Tom Berkley said Kamitsis was motivated by long-term greed whereas Mossman’s crimes were purely opportunistic. |
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