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A real estate agent has told a jury a Victorian Nationals MP “had no permission at all” to use his name to sell two dairy farms.
Tim McCurdy is accused of using false documents to facilitate the sale of two dairy farms in northern Victoria that netted him almost $270,000 in commissions.
The offending allegedly unfolded in 2009, before Mr McCurdy was elected to state parliament in 2010.
Mr McCurdy is fighting the allegations.
Prosecutors have alleged he facilitated the sales of properties at Katamatite and Boosey, north of Shepparton, using letterheads from Andrew Gilmour Real Estate.
Mr McCurdy is charged with five fraud offences including using false documents and obtaining property by deception.
Mr Gilmour told the trial on Monday he never gave approval to Mr McCurdy, his former colleague and neighbour, to use his name in any transactions.
“He had no permission at all,” Mr Gilmour said.
Mr Gilmour also said Mr McCurdy was not working for him at the time both properties were sold.
He said he first learnt his real estate business was involved in selling Pinegrove Park at Katamatite when the seller’s solicitor phoned him in June 2009.
Mr Gilmour said the solicitor had asked if he was aware of the sale, to which he replied he was not.
Mr Gilmour said he phoned Mr McCurdy to “let him know my displeasure” that letterheads bearing his name were being used in sales documents.
“I rang to find out what had transpired and why had this transpired – the sale, the transaction in my name, of which there was no real response,” he said.
Mr Gilmour said he initially refused to do the settlement but later changed his mind.
He said he unleashed his fury at what had gone on in a letter to Mr McCurdy.
“I wrote that letter because I was that angry with what had transpired and the fact that I’d been compromised in such a way, and he needed to know my feelings,” Mr Gilmour told the jury.
Under cross examination, Mr Gilmour denied suggestions by the defence the passage of time had affected his memory.
Mr Gilmour had told jurors Mr McCurdy attended his office on June 29 or 30 in 2009 after he had learned of the Pinegrove Park sale.
However, defence barrister Ian Hill said Mr McCurdy was in outback Queensland on a bike desert trip at that time.
“It totally disproves he came to your office on that date,” Mr Hill said.
“It must,” Mr Gilmour replied.
“Does that shake your confidence in your recollection?” Mr Hill asked.
“Absolutely not,” Mr Gilmour answered.
Mr Gilmour also said he had signed a sale contract for the Pinegrove Park farm four months after the date of the document suggests.
He said Mr McCurdy had got the vendor to sign it and he signed it late so it complied with audit requirements.
He said he didn’t tell investigators of that fact because he had forgotten and the contract was not in his files.
The trial before Judge George Georgiou continues on Tuesday.
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