When the former chief of staff to the National Australia Bank boss forwarded an email containing an invoice - marked “Project Eagle”- for services from one of the bank’s major contractors, she didn’t mince her words.The invoice was for $2.2 million. And "Mike" was former NSW premier Mike Baird.
Less than two years on, an extensive investigation into the dealings between Human Group and the offices of former chiefs of staff to CEOs Cameron Clyne and later, Andrew Thorburn, has netted two scalps.The past week has seen the arrest and subsequent charging of both Mrs Rogers and Human Group director Helen Rosamond, 43, who between them face more than 100 charges of bribery and corruption between 2013 and 2017.
What, if any, bribes were paid in the five years prior to 2013, when the formal contractual relationship between the two organisations began, remains unknown. on a rap sheet revealing almost $6 million in actual benefits she allegedly enjoyed between 2013 and 2017.Now further details uncover just how far the alleged deception went.The Williamstown house, in Melbourne's inner west, purchased by Rosemary Rogers.
By the end of October, NAB had paid the $2.2 million invoice issued by Human Group, while Mrs Rogers had submitted a letter for a loan application, purportedly signed by her parents-in-law Clifford and Janis Rogers, stating that they would be contributing $1.2 million as a gift to assist with the purchase of the Williamstown house.
Before she resigned from the bank in December 2017, Mrs Rogers managed the office of the CEO and was its senior adviser, enjoying a salary package of almost $700,000, including bonuses. She was granted a final payout of around $185,000. But not all gifts were so extravagant. Others included prepaid credit cards used for expenses such as a Telstra account bill, an Energy Australia bill and women's clothes at Witchery.