Crown Casino Encouraged Loser

Gambling addict stole $3m from NuFarm to pay Crown Casino

A MAN with a gambling addiction of "majestic proportions'' stole more than $3 million from his employer to pay off debts racked up at Crown Casino, a Melbourne court has heard.

Despite his debts Robert Somerville, 59, still enjoyed a life of luxury courtesy of the casino, which flew him to events and provided him with incentives to "lose large amounts of money at their establishments'', a Victorian County Court judge said.

Somerville was sentenced to nine years' jail on Friday after pleading guilty to stealing $3.8 million over six years from his employer, Nufarm Limited, which makes weed and pest-control products for farmers.

Judge Margaret Rizkalla said a psychologist's report showed Somerville had a pathological gambling addiction and at one point moved into an apartment across the road from the casino.

The psychologist found Somerville had a gambling addiction of "majestic proportions'' which had been encouraged by Crown Casino, the judge said.

Somerville stole the funds from Nufarm between 1995 and 2001 when he was employed as a production manager at the company's site at Laverton, southwest of Melbourne.

Judge Rizkalla said Somerville had exploited deficiencies in the company's accounting systems when it was his job to identify and fix those problems.

Invoices for goods and services were inflated, or created for services that were never or only partially supplied, Judge Rizkalla said.

Somerville also negotiated for another company to pay him secret commissions to keep lucrative contracts with Nufarm, she said.

The prosecution argued that Somerville ultimately received about 90 per cent of the total monies stolen, but the defence argued the amount was closer to 50 per cent.

Judge Rizkalla said it didn't matter because the overall offending was significant.

Somerville had caused the company financial difficulties and traumatised other employees, the judge said.

She added that Somerville had continued offending after he was dismissed from Nufarm and was subsequently jailed for two years and two months for tax fraud committed in 2005 and 2006.

Somerville is serving a 12-month minimum term on that sentence.

His gambling addiction was not taken into account when he was sentenced to a non-parole period of six-and-a-half years for the current offences.

"Gambling does not entitle an offender to an appreciable moderation in sentence,'' Judge Rizkalla said.

"This involved a gross breach of trust, over six years.

"You abused what you saw to be a lax system and a deficiency in your employer. It was in fact your role ... to ensure that it (the deficiency) was eliminated, not use it to your own benefit.''

Somerville pleaded guilty to 46 charges of obtaining and attempting to obtain property by deception, and receiving secret commissions.