Aussie accountant stole A$780k to feed online gambling habit

Alice Springs accountant Johannes Joubert has been convicted in the Alice Springs Supreme Court of stealing A$780,000 from Aboriginal organisations across Central Australia over a four-year period in order to feed an out-of-control online gambling habit.

Joubert worked as a bookkeeper for a local accounting services firm and is alleged by the prosecution to have transferred funds from his clients’ bank accounts directly into his personal bank account, hacking financial records to manipulate the accounting system.

Local media reports indicate that he had sole authority to access accounts and was therefore in a “position of significant trust”.

Through 167 separate transactions he stole about A$550,000 from almost 20 Aboriginal organisations, mainly not-for-profit organisations from small remote communities across Central Australia.

The Australian Tax Office alerted his employers to financial irregularities in mid-2013 and the company became aware of unauthorised transactions several months later, but Joubert continued to steal money.

He also stole A$230,000 from the Central Australian Stolen Generations and Families Aboriginal Corporation, which was forced to shut down last year due to funding cuts and misuse of Commonwealth funds after being audited over compliance issues.

Joubert pleaded guilty to all charges of stealing relating to fraud and dishonesty, and was remanded in custody, where he has been since handing himself to police in July 2015.

He will be sentenced on April 27.