Radio station hit with funding ban after boss transfers $200K to debit card

2 weeks ago 6

The former chairman of an Indigenous community organisation that runs Koori Radio has faced accusations of poor governance after he transferred more than $200,000 to a debit card in his name from the company’s funds for expenses.

A financial audit also found nearly a quarter of a million dollars was “not transparently managed” under his leadership but said there was no misappropriation of funds.

Former Koori Radio board member John Leha.

The organisation has now been barred from applying for state government grants, and insiders have described its operations as being in “dire straits” and “in chaos”.

John Leha held the roles of chair and treasurer of Gadigal Information Service Aboriginal Corporation (GIS), which operates Koori Radio, from 2019 until a vote of no confidence against the board removed him from his position in April 2023 amid bullying claims.

A financial audit conducted by Deloitte and sighted by this masthead analysed expenditure between January 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023. A key focus was $250,000 in funding from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs to upgrade the Koori Radio studios.

The grant money did “not appear to have been transparently managed”, and records made it “challenging” to consider whether grant funding had been spent “in accordance with its intended purpose,” the auditor wrote.

“Koori Radio is the most important piece of Aboriginal community-controlled infrastructure ... and it is in dire straits.”

Anonymous board member

The audit also found $217,000 had been transferred to a debit card in Leha’s name between January 2022 and October 2023.

On Leha’s card, more than $41,000 was spent on travel, including $13,000 on Uber. Nearly was spent $23,000 on accommodation and $11,400 on food, as well as several miscellaneous fees, such as $400 in ATM withdrawals and $350 on car detailing.

Auditors found that while there was no significant expenditure that could be classified as misappropriation, there were transactions, including the “significant” volume of Uber trips that “may not be genuinely business-related”.

The audit has yet to be formally presented to the board, and this masthead is not suggesting any funds were misappropriated.

However, in early 2024, Aboriginal Affairs NSW issued a non-compliance letter to Gadigal Information Service barring it from applying for funding for two years, emails show.

In an email to board members and Aboriginal Affairs NSW in March 2024, interim CEO of GIS Tony Duke noted the organisation was in disarray. “We are an organisation in chaos and a critical situation financially,” he wrote, adding the organisation had unpaid bills exceeding $200,000.

“This work [funded by the government grant] has not been done and the funds are not readily identifiable in our bank accounts.”

Member fees have also allegedly gone missing, with members told in a meeting last year to cancel their direct debits as the organisation had no idea which bank account the fees were being deposited into.

GIS chair Dallas Wellington said the organisation had emerged from a “challenging period” over the past 20 months, but stated that it was now “a strong and viable organisation that every day goes from strength to strength”.

“Like many grassroots community organisations, there is a vulnerability that comes with the territory,” he said, adding the board and staff are committed to embedding “systems and best practices to ensure that our organisation is appropriately governed and managed in a culturally respectful and publicly accountable manner.”

‘Bullying, belittling’ behaviour

Leha has also been accused of bullying behaviour and poor governance by four current and former GIS and BlaQ board members who have described him as “aggressive”, and said Leha shut down those who tried to question the organisation’s management.

Several sent complaints about Leha’s governance to the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations [ORIC].

“Koori Radio is the most important piece of Aboriginal community-controlled infrastructure in the country, and it is in dire straits,” a board member who requested anonymity said.

“I’m terrified for the organisation … The Black scene in Sydney is on life support.”

Board member Peta-Joy Williams, who led the successful vote of no confidence against Leha and the board, said bullying perpetrated by Leha caused her to have anxiety attacks, citing his “intimidating” behaviour in her resignation letter to the board. She later rejoined.

“He was pure aggression and demeaning,” she said.

Peta-Joy Williams has accused charity boss John Leha of bullying and poor governance while the pair were on the board at Koori Radio.

“It just got to the point where every time we had a board meeting, I was going home and crying my eyes out … He bullied me to the point that I had a full mental breakdown and had to quit my job.”

Another former board member said Leha wouldn’t respond to questions or criticism.

“He would scream, just keep shutting people down … it was impossible to hold him accountable,” she said.

Leha, who is also the founding director and chair of BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation, chief executive of the Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Care State Secretariat (AbSec), is also being sued for racial vilification of a former BlaQ chief executive. He has denied the allegations and is defending the claim.

Shane Sturgiss has lodged a compensation claim with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, arguing he was left unable to work for nearly two years due to psychological injuries following an outburst by Leha, in which he allegedly demanded an on-the-spot performance appraisal and requested a certificate of Aboriginality despite it not being a requirement of the role.

Leha acknowledged he requested a performance review and a certificate of Aboriginality but denied behaving threateningly. The case is ongoing.