The state prosecutor in the trial of five people accused of a million-dollar gold theft in Western Australia's Goldfields has described the nature of their dealings as "nefarious" and "surreptitious".
In his closing address on day 12 of the trial, prosecutor Paul Usher walked the 14-member jury through the state's evidence against the five accused, which includes WA mining executive Patrick Rhyan Keogh.
Mr Keogh, 42, the former general manager of gold miner FMR Investments, and former Greenfields Mill manager Christopher Robert Burns, 76, have both pleaded not guilty to stealing as a servant and other charges relating to the proceeds of an offence.
The charges relate to the alleged theft of 8,465 tonnes of gold-bearing ore from the Greenfields Mill, owned by FMR Investments, between December 2018 and January 2019.
Based on metal prices at the time, the gold the ore produced had an estimated value of $1.17 million.
Simon Leslie Gash, 57, and his business partner Russell Wilson Holden, 51, are fighting money laundering and fraud charges.
The prosecution alleges they knew about plans to combine ore they mined with ore owned by FMR Investments.
Former mill superintendent Morgan Whitney Dombroski, 33, has also pleaded not guilty to charges alleging she received $90,000 cash from Mr Burns.
Mr Usher spoke for three hours on Wednesday afternoon and continually referred to "the surreptitious nature of the payments".
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 Mr Gash and Mr Holden.
"You can look at the evidence, and the lack of evidence," Mr Usher told the jury.
"What I mean by that is we've seen that previous campaigns at Greenfields Mill were documented precisely … there was nothing documented here, nothing in relation to a joint venture.
"You heard evidence that this was a handshake, gentleman's agreement … whatever the case was … FMR did not know that Mr Keogh and Mr Burns were involved in any way.
"The state says this is because they did not have permission."
Case hinges on 'credible witness'
Mr Usher also spent significant time addressing the credibility of one of the state's key witnesses, FMR Investments founder and director Peter Bartlett.
Mr Keogh has maintained that Mr Bartlett gave him permission to profit from the ore, referred to as the "clean-up pile", during a conversation sometime in late 2012 or early 2013.
"This conversation simply did not occur," Mr Usher told the court.
"The state says you should find Peter Bartlett a credible witness."
Mr Keogh's lawyer, Seamus Rafferty, said in his opening address that Mr Bartlett's credibility would be a "fundamental matter in this trial".
Mr Rafferty also accused Mr Bartlett of "deliberately lying" to the jury during his cross examination when he changed his story about Mr Keogh "begging" him to change his police statement.
Mr Bartlett said he "made a mistake" and that Mr Keogh had instead asked him to drop the charges.
Of the five accused, Mr Keogh was the only one to take the witness stand during the trial.
After he became aware of the police investigation, Mr Keogh told the court he met with Mr Bartlett on four separate occasions, including three times at his Busselton house.
Mr Keogh said that Mr Bartlett was concerned about the prospect of fresh charges after facing two trials in 2013 and 2014 over a $50m tax evasion case.
"[Mr Bartlett] said there wasn't anything he could do about the charges, and he couldn't do anything because there was still fraud charges hanging over his head," Mr Keogh told the court.
"I told Peter to tell the truth … my life was getting tipped upside down."
'Fanciful and implausible'
Mr Usher's closing address continually instructed the jury to follow the money trail.
During the trial, the court heard that Mr Gash allegedly delivered a box containing $90,000 cash that Mr Burns subsequently gave to Ms Dombroski.
Mr Usher also referred to Ms Dombroski's police interview, when she said Mr Burns had given her an envelope full of cash and told her "don't ask questions".
She told police during the interview, which was played in court, that the money was given to her because she had been working hard and deserved a pay rise.
Mr Usher called it "fanciful and implausible".
"The state says she did know it was as a result of the milling campaign," he said.
In a separate transaction, the prosecution alleged a woman known only as "Bonny" delivered $100,000 to Mr Burns in the Perth suburb of High Wycombe in September 2019.
Detective Sergeant Chris King, officer-in-charge of the Kalgoorlie-based Gold Stealing Detection Unit, testified that police could not establish her true identity or her connection to the accused.
Mr Usher told the court that Mr Burns had also sent Aqua Alluvial a "fake invoice" in October 2019 for $52,130 to make the transaction appear legitimate.
"He admitted it wasn't a legitimate invoice … and I invite you to look again at that evidence," he said, referring to Mr Burns' police interview in January 2021.
The defence lawyers for the five accused are set to deliver their closing arguments on Thursday.
