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Former AFL umpire Troy Pannell has pleaded guilty to illegally selling off his shares in a racehorse after freezing orders were imposed on his assets, amid separate claims he was behind a years long $8.7 million fraud scheme.
Pannell, who until recently was on the run from police with several warrants out for his arrest, is being pursued by his former employer, SeaRoad Shipping, after being accused of ripping the company off in a decade-long embezzlement saga.
Former AFL umpire Troy Pannell pictured in 2013.Credit: Paul Rovere
SeaRoad took civil action in the Supreme Court late last year alleging Pannell had defrauded the business via a fake-invoice scheme.
The scheme allegedly involved Pannell generating invoices to pay a company named Independent Container Surveyors & Assessors Pty Ltd, of which Pannell was sole shareholder and director, to repair damaged shipping containers. SeaRoad alleges no work was done to repair the containers.
Documents filed in the Supreme Court detail that Pannell has been accused of sending as many as 10,000 false invoices of about $800 for repairs to shipping containers
On Friday, he faced the Supreme Court and pleaded guilty to contempt of court charges, including
failure to comply with his obligation to make asset disclosure affidavits pursuant to a freezing order and selling shares in a racehorse, Aimee’s Jewel, to a friend, Maree Wilke, while a freezing order was imposed.
In early May freezing orders were also placed on Wilke’s assets.
Pannell, who represented himself, said during the hearing that he did not have $8.7 million in assets.
The court also heard Pannell paid Wilke $10,000 to pay for her legal fees following the sale of the thoroughbred horse. He initially told the court he made the sale before freezing orders were imposed in December last year.
However, Jonathan B. Davis, KC, barrister for SeaRoad Shipping, disputed this and accused Pannell of “thumbing his nose” at the court. He said the sale of the horse was deliberate and “not casual or accidental” and came after freezing orders were imposed.
“What we will submit is that Mr Pannell, in doing what he did, was thumbing his nose at the authority of this court ... that elevates the seriousness of the offence, and it takes it over the line to make it criminal in character,” Davis said.
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He called for a prison term to be imposed.
Wilke claimed Pannell signed a document for ownership of the horse on her behalf, causing her to become beside herself out of concern about the legal ramifications for her. She is alleged to have paid Pannell $6000 for the sale. The court heard the horse was worth more than $150,000.
“I was very upset, Troy Parnell told me not to worry because I had purchased the filly last year ... and I couldn’t be charged,” Wilke wrote in her affidavit, which was read out to the court.
She said she was panicked and vomiting. “I felt like I could lose everything.”
After Wilke’s affidavit was read out, Pannell opted not to fight the allegations and decided to plea guilty.
Pannell, 48, was involved in an accident on the Daylesford and Malmsbury Road near Wheatsheaf in western Victoria last month after failing to show up the Supreme Court three times for scheduled hearings. His van ran off the road and hit a tree after he had failed to stop for police who were trying to enforce a warrant for his arrest for contempt of court.
AFL umpire Troy Pannell arrives at the Supreme Court on Friday.Credit: Eddie Jim
No other vehicle was involved in the crash. He received treatment at The Alfred hospital and was arrested on June 15 over alleged theft and driving offences.
Earlier this month, Pannell told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court he was suffering from anxiety and depression and had been unable to contact family since that arrest.
Justice Andrew Watson issued a final arrest warrant for Pannell for contempt of court last month after he failed to show up in court again.
Pannell officiated more than 200 AFL games from 2005 to 2018 – including a controversial 2016 match in which he awarded 17 free kicks to the eventual flag-winning Bulldogs and only one to Adelaide during a regular season game.
Pannell is to return to court on Tuesday.
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