Defence lawyers for a mining executive accused of gold theft have questioned the level of involvement by a private lawyer and other company directors in crafting a police statement for well-known West Australian entrepreneur Peter Bartlett.
As the founder of FMR Investments, Mr Bartlett has testified in the District Court trial of his former "protege", 42-year-old Patrick Rhyan Keogh, who served as the gold miner's general manager for more than a decade.
Mr Keogh is one of five people fighting charges over the alleged theft of gold-bearing ore from the company's Greenfields Mill near Coolgardie between December 2018 and January 2019.
The gold the ore produced, and which was sold to the Perth Mint, was worth $1.17 million, based on metal prices at the time.
Mr Keogh's lawyers have said Mr Bartlett gave him permission to profit from a pile of dirt, referred to as the "clean-up pile", during a conversation sometime in late 2012 or early 2013.
"I didn't give him permission," Mr Bartlett told the court on at least two separate occasions during his testimony.
Mr Keogh has admitted that $590,411 was sent to his private business account on March 13, 2019 from Aqua Alluvial Pty Ltd, which is controlled by two of the co-accused, Simon Leslie Gash, 57, and his business partner, Russell Wilson Holden, 51.
Mr Bartlett told the court he first heard about the allegations from Detective Sergeant Chris King, the officer-in-charge of the WA Police Gold Stealing Detection Unit, in January 2021.
He signed a formal statement on November 18, 2021, and signed an amended statement on February 23, less than a fortnight before the trial began on March 7.
Statement went through lawyers
Detective Sergeant King told the court he "pre-drafted" the initial statement for Mr Bartlett based on the "known facts of the case at the time".
"You meet with the witness, then go through it and ask what needs changing, etc etc," he said.
The court heard there was significant discussion with an external lawyer, Kirsten Scott, over several months after she was hired by FMR Investments to avoid conflict because the company's in-house legal counsel, Robin Romero, was also a director at the time.
Mr Keogh's lawyer Seamus Rafferty asked whether Ms Scott was "heavily involved" in drafting Mr Bartlett's statement, which Detective Sergeant King said was "correct".
"I deal with mining companies all the time, and quite often they want to run things through their legal department," Detective Sergeant King said.
"That's their choice to deal with their lawyer.
"I don't see it as unusual by Mr Bartlett … I was a little bit frustrated at the time it took to get that statement, which was evident in the emails I sent."
In earlier testimony, former FMR Investments finance manager Dean Mills said he briefed external counsel about police statements, and attended various meetings with finance director Charles Watson and Ms Romero "relating to this case".
Detective Sergeant King downplayed the significance of that on the witness stand, but Mr Rafferty said the number of people with input into Mr Bartlett's statement went to the "essence" of the case.
The court heard police found a photograph of Mr Bartlett's draft statement with handwritten notes on it when they downloaded the contents of Mr Keogh's phone in April 2021.
The notes were in blue and black pen and in court Mr Bartlett identified the latter as being the handwriting of FMR Investments director Bob Colville, who, like the company founder, lives in Busselton.
Mr Bartlett said Mr Keogh was at a meeting at his Busselton home, along with Mr Colville, where the statement was discussed.
Attempt to 'soften' wording
Detective Sergeant King told the court the handwriting on the draft statement came to his attention sometime after April 2021, when police downloaded the contents of Mr Keogh's phone.
Mr Bartlett testified that Mr Colville's notes showed he was attempting to "soften" the language in the statement "to get [Mr Keogh] out [of] the shit", and included proposing the following change:
"Had I been asked, which I don't recall, I would have allowed the benefit of the clean-up material to go to Keogh and [former mill manager and co-accused Christopher Robert] Burns," Mr Colville's notes on the draft statement shown in court said.
Mr Bartlett told the court, "Paddy wasn't trying to change anything", but he said Mr Colville was there because of the "conflict", as Mr Keogh's father Aiden Keogh and Mr Bartlett had been "great friends" over 40 years.
"At one stage, Bob was going to rewrite it," Mr Bartlett said of the draft statement.
Mr Bartlett had written in blue pen a question mark next to a paragraph noting Mr Keogh "had no authority" to use the ore, which Mr Rafferty suggested to the court meant he was "questioning the truthfulness" of the statement.
"No, that's not correct," Mr Bartlett said.
Under cross-examination, Detective Sergeant King said the handwriting was "potentially" relevant but did not say he should have interviewed Mr Colville.
"Bob Colville had made changes to a document … wouldn't it be prudent to pursue what his position was?" Mr Rafferty asked.
"I didn't believe so at the time," Detective Sergeant King said.
"That four lines goes to the essence of the case, which is the permission to use the ore?" Mr Rafferty said.
"I disagree," Detective Sergeant King replied.
Detective Sergeant King, who has been a police officer for 32 years and spent the past six years with the gold squad, said Mr Colville "wasn't someone who was in a position to give away ore" and so he did not think it was relevant.
He also pointed out that Mr Bartlett said the group did not have permission to profit from the ore.
'Pointless' to contact 'hostile witness'
Mr Bartlett initially testified that Mr Keogh had "begged" him to change his police statement and offered to pay the money back.
But under cross-examination by Mr Rafferty he said that was not the case and that he had "made a mistake", but denied he had "deliberately lied" to the jury.
The mining boss told the court there had been a meeting at a Busselton cafe with Mr Keogh and his father, Aidan.
"Aidan was saying he was going to pay it all back," Mr Bartlett said.
Mr Rafferty asked Detective Sergeant King why he did not follow up with Aidan Keogh to verify the account.
Detective Sergeant King said he never contacted Aidan Keogh, adding it was "probably pointless", because he would consider him a "hostile witness".
The trial, presided over by Judge Christopher Stevenson, continues.
