Former RSL NSW president Don Rowe should be referred to police over his misuse of league credit cards and 13 other directors referred to charity watchdogs for covering up the expenses scandal, a high-level inquiry has found.
The inquiry also recommended that eight board members and executives of the veterans' league’s aged care arm should be referred to the watchdog over payments made to some voluntary board members that appeared to breach charities regulations.
The inquiry, headed by former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin, SC, has also called for sweeping reform of fundraising regulations to make charities such as the RSL more accountable for how they spend money collected from the public.
The report comes 18 months after Fairfax Media first reported concerns within the veterans' league over the way some board members were spending allowances.
The NSW government was scathing when it released the report in Sydney on Monday.
Minister for Better Regulation, Matt Kean, said the 547-page report detailed the “corruption and cronyism which led the NSW RSL to the brink of destruction”, and included “forensic analysis of the shameful events which represent the darkest days in one of our most loved institutions”.
The full article by David Wroe can be read on the Sydney Morning Herald
