MS HARRIS: Could we bring up page 8 of this court book 11, 26
please? Thank you. This is an email as you can see, Mr 27
Gamble, between Nino Napoli and Daniel Calleja dated 6 28
September 2009 asking for three invoices for scanning of 29
documents for school funding DVD including scanning, 30
programming and creating a directory for storage, 1
approximately 10 arch folders, 250 pages per book. 2
And the invoices should have an invoice and a quote a 3
week before and directing to who those invoices should be 4
made out to, Chandler Park Primary, the Department of 5
Education and to your school, Laburnum Primary School, 6
attention to you. I’ll just let – have you had a read of 7
that? 8
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 9
MS HARRIS: Have you seen that document before? 10
MR GAMBLE: I saw that in my first interview with IBAC in late 11
last year. 12
MS HARRIS: Would you agree that that appears to be Mr Napoli 13
directing Mr Calleja to invoice the same service to three 14
different recipients in different amounts? 15
MR GAMBLE: I agree that that’s what that appears to be. 16
MS HARRIS: And based on those instructions that Laburnum – to 17
invoice Laburnum Primary School $5400 plus GST, that 18
appears then to relate to the invoice that was ultimately 19
sent to your school? 20
MR GAMBLE: That would appear so, yes. 21
MS HARRIS: We heard evidence last week from Mr Calleja that 22
invoices sent by his company, Innovating Visuals to 23
primary schools other than one primary school that isn’t 24
Laburnum were for goods and services not provided. Did 25
you hear that evidence or - - - 26
MR GAMBLE: No, I did not. 27
MS HARRIS: Were you made aware of that evidence? 28
MR GAMBLE: No, I was not. 29
MS HARRIS: So that’s news to you obviously? 30
MR GAMBLE: Yes, it is. 1
MS HARRIS: Have you ever heard of Sharon Vandermeer? 2
MR GAMBLE: No, I have not. 3
MS HARRIS: Or On the Ball Personnel? 4
MR GAMBLE: I should qualify, no, I had not until I went into 5
IBAC last year. So, no, I had no previous knowledge, I 6
have never heard of those people. 7
MS HARRIS: Could we bring up page 9 of court book 11, please? 8
Thank you. Again, another email this time from Nino 9
Napoli dated 8 December 2009 to Sharon Vandermeer 10
directing her to invoice Laburnum Primary School, 11
attention to you, for admin service October, November 12
2009 for $4950 plus GST. Did you ever receive admin 13
services from On The Ball at your school? 14
MR GAMBLE: No, we did not. 15
MS HARRIS: And if we go to page 19, please. If we just 16
scroll down, it’s an invoice from On The Ball to your 17
school, Laburnum Primary School for the amount of $5445, 18
as Mr Napoli instructed for services in October and 19
November 2009. How did that invoice come to you? 20
MR GAMBLE: I believe - - - 21
MS HARRIS: Sorry, I should ask. Have you seen that before? 22
MR GAMBLE: Again, I would have seen it when we got it, but I 23
had no memory of it, none. 24
MS HARRIS: And how did it come to you? 25
MR GAMBLE: I believe again because of the – the folds in the 26
– in the paper that would have come by via mail. I had 27
no memory of it when I first went to IBAC late last year. 28
When I went back to my previous to my previous school 29
with the new principal’s permission, my business manager 30
was able to find that in the files underneath the school 1
along with a handwritten note from Nino that came with 2
that particular invoice. 3
MS HARRIS: Yes. Now, you’ve indicated that those services 4
were not received by your school. 5
MR GAMBLE: No, they were not. 6
MS HARRIS: Were you told anything about where those services 7
went? 8
MR GAMBLE: No, I - - - 9
MS HARRIS: Who got those services? 10
MR GAMBLE: No, I was not. 11
MR O’BRYAN: Someone’s initialled under a proof payment. Do 12
you recognise those initials? 13
MR GAMBLE: That’s my initial. 14
MR O’BRYAN: Yes. 15
MS HARRIS: And what was it then that caused you to approve 16
the payment of that invoice? 17
MR GAMBLE: I approved the payment for that invoice because I 18
had the note from Nino to me authorising it and again 19
because Nino was the man in charge or this entire area in 20
Victoria. And it was consistent with I had the funds 21
that he had put into our school account to pay for it, so 22
I just assumed it was all appropriate. 23
MS HARRIS: And how did you know that this invoice was to be 24
paid out of the funds that he had deposited in your 25
school for professional development? 26
MR GAMBLE: Again, the handwritten note I think you will – 27
that came with this. 28
MS HARRIS: Yes, can we bring up page 17, please? Is that the 29
note you’re referring to? 30
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 1
MS HARRIS: 2
Gavin, as discussed, please arrange payment. 3
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 4
MS HARRIS: 5
One more coming for about 1100 printing, thanks, Nino. 6
MR GAMBLE: That’s correct, yes. 7
MS HARRIS: So I’m sorry, what was it that made you think that 8
related to the deposit for professional development? 9
MR GAMBLE: Because I would have no other funds to pay that 10
with. To me that was consistent with the way we had 11
always operated with every other arrangement that we had, 12
the money had been deposited in the school. We – that’s 13
where we took the money from, from the money that Nino 14
had put in the school, we certainly wouldn’t have taken 15
it from school funds. 16
MS HARRIS: And again, was it usual for the process to be so 17
informal in the sense that just a handwritten note was 18
sent with an invoice saying, “Please pay this”? 19
MR GAMBLE: Looking at that now, yes, it’s informal, but 20
again, it – nothing else had been informal and the money 21
had been directly debited correctly through the system. 22
Everything, the invoices, the quote, everything else had 23
been, I, looking at it now and I really can’t recall, I 24
would have assumed I just took that as an informal 25
addition because we were providing a service. Yes, but 26
yes, you are correct, it is – it does have an informal 27
nature looking at it in this context now. Yes. 28
MS HARRIS: And was that the usual practice with you as a 29
banker school - - - 30
MR GAMBLE: No. 1
MS HARRIS: - - - if you got an invoice that it would be just 2
with a note saying - - - 3
MR GAMBLE: No. 4
MS HARRIS: “Please pay”? 5
MR GAMBLE: Not usually. For example, when we did it from 6
Eastern Region they would all be delivered in person or – 7
usually in person by a staff member who would bring a 8
folder. So it was a more personal – personal contact. 9
MS HARRIS: From - - - 10
MR GAMBLE: Sometimes they would come in electronically. 11
MS HARRIS: From the staff member of the school - - - 12
MR GAMBLE: Yes, from - - - 13
MS HARRIS: - - - that the service had been provided to? 14
MR GAMBLE: No, from the Eastern Region, for example. 15
MS HARRIS: Yes. 16
MR GAMBLE: Sometimes they would come in electronically, but 17
an informal note like that is unusual, yes. 18
MS HARRIS: All right. And if we can go to page 18, please? 19
That’s the payment voucher in relation to that On The 20
Ball invoice. 21
MR GAMBLE: Yes, it is. 22
MS HARRIS: Your signature next to school principal? 23
MR GAMBLE: Yes. Yes, it is. Yes. 24
MS HARRIS: Your signature next to “school principal”? 25
MR GAMBLE: Yes. Yes, it is. Yes. 26
MS HARRIS: And your business manager or bursar’s signature? 27
MR GAMBLE: Yes. And the school council nominee on that one 28
is my assistant principal. 29
MS HARRIS: Right. And would the assistant – I notice that 30
the detail in terms of the credit voucher says 1
“administrative services”, would the assistant principal 2
have known that those administrative services weren’t 3
provided to your school? 4
MR GAMBLE: Yes, she would have. She would have received the 5
same information as me. We also, as a point of - - - 6
MS HARRIS: Yes. 7
MR GAMBLE: Anything we paid out any of our vouchers always 8
went through the finance committee of the school and 9
anything over $5000 was always identified separately as 10
well and that would be discussed. So a – a parent, the 11
treasurer usually would ask what that was for. 12
I can’t recall my words now but I would – it was 13
clearly noted that that was from money that we had 14
received from the Department of Education, that it was 15
not – we were not paying that money out of school funds 16
and that it was what it’s for in this case, professional 17
development or whatever the – so - - - 18
MS HARRIS: So parents on the school council would be aware 19
that when money is being paid from a banker school for 20
invoices in relation to services at another school, 21
parents would be aware of that. Is that right? 22
MR GAMBLE: Yes, they would. 23
MS HARRIS: Yes. 24
MR GAMBLE: Or parents on school council and parents on the 25
finance committee would have been – yes, that was – that 26
was discussed quite openly because it would be questioned 27
quite often, “What – what is that?” You know, there’s – 28
sometimes there much larger amounts of money than that, 29
for example. So the parents, in particular the treasurer 30
would be quite interested as to what that amount of money 1 was for. 2 MS HARRIS: Of course. 3
MR GAMBLE: And we were always able to explain what it was for 4
and that was accepted. 5
MS HARRIS: How did you keep tabs of what was left of the 6
$15,000 Mr Napoli had deposited? 7
MR GAMBLE: The – the money was put into a subprogram kept 8
separate and it was very – subtract $4990 from the 9
$15,000. 10
MS HARRIS: When you say “kept separate”, it wasn’t in a 11
separate bank account, was it? 12
MR GAMBLE: Not in a separate bank account. No, it was 13
identified separately as all school – all school budgets 14
are. 15
MS HARRIS: And when you say “identified separately”, you mean 16
on the computer system? 17
MR GAMBLE: Yes, yes. 18
MS HARRIS: So it would - - - 19
MR GAMBLE: A subprogram, yes. 20
MS HARRIS: It would be still mixed in with the school moneys. 21
Is that right? 22
MR GAMBLE: It would be, yes. But it would be clearly 23
identified and separately tagged, if you like, or in a 24
separate subprogram. So every time we presented a 25
finance report to council, those subprograms are a 26
running total, if you like, and that would be the same 27
for the phys ed budget, the reading budget. That would 28
be the same for all of our budgets and that one would be 29
identified separately. 30
MS HARRIS: Did Mr Napoli, at any time, make contact with you 1
to find out how much was left - - - 2
MR GAMBLE: No. 3
MS HARRIS: - - - of the $15,000? 4
MR GAMBLE: No. I actually never heard from – in person from 5
Mr Napoli after the first phone call. 6
MS HARRIS: Yes. Could we bring up page 10, please. Can we 7
go up to – thank you. Again, another email from Mr 8
Napoli. This time to Carlo Squillacioti dated 8 December 9
2009. Have you ever heard of Carlo Squillacioti? 10
MR GAMBLE: No. 11
MS HARRIS: Or Encino Proprietary Limited? 12
MR GAMBLE: No, not until my first meeting at IBAC in 13
October/November - - - 14
MS HARRIS: Yes. But at that stage in 2009? 15
MR GAMBLE: At that stage, no, I had no knowledge of any of 16
those people. 17
MS HARRIS: Certainly didn’t seek any goods or services from 18
Encino Proprietary Limited? 19
MR GAMBLE: Absolutely not. 20
MS HARRIS: And, again, it appears to be an email asking for 21
the preparation of three invoices under the name of 22
Encino for graphic design and printing of publications, 23
including editing publications of school financial 24
management and training government schools for three 25
different schools, and yours is the last one there. 26
Laburnum Primary School for the amount of 1100 plus GST. 27
This would be consistent with the handwritten note Mr 28
Napoli gave you - - - 29
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 30
MS HARRIS: - - - saying there’s another invoice coming for 1
$1100. 2
MR GAMBLE: And I believe there was – a handwritten note came 3
with this invoice as well or the one you’re probably 4
about to show. So, yes, it’s consistent. 5
MS HARRIS: And, again, it appears to be instructing Mr 6
Squillacioti to charge three different schools for the 7
same services. Do you agree with that? 8
MR GAMBLE: Certainly looks that way, yes. 9
MS HARRIS: In different amounts. 10
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 11
MS HARRIS: Did you ever see a publication called Financial 12
Management and Training in Government Schools? 13
MR GAMBLE: No, I did not. 14
MS HARRIS: Could you think of any reason why three different 15
schools would pay for that publication? 16
MR GAMBLE: I would assume three – again, this is only 17
conjecture, obviously. I would assume the three 18
different schools didn’t know in any shape or form that 19
the invoice had gone to three schools. I would assume 20
each of those schools would have assumed that they were 21
the only people receiving that invoice. The name of that 22
publication is consistent with what the money was so I 23
can only assume that the three schools did not know of 24
each other’s existence in terms of managing money for the 25
Department through Nino. 26
MS HARRIS: Yes. Could we have page 22, please. That then – 27
if we can just scroll down a little bit. That then 28
appears to be the tax invoice from Encino as directed to 29
your school. 30
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 1
MS HARRIS: For $1100 and then they’ve added GST for the 2
services detailed by Mr Napoli. How did that – have you 3
seen that before? 4
MR GAMBLE: Yes, I did. I would have seen that when it was 5
received but I don’t recall it and I saw it again - - - 6
MS HARRIS: Is that - - - 7
MR GAMBLE: - - - when I found it - - - 8
MS HARRIS: Is that your signature under the “approved for 9
payment”? 10
MR GAMBLE: No. That would be – partly it is, yes. There’s a 11
“GG” there. Looks as though it has also been signed by 12
Jean. I don’t know why that would be the case. 13
MS HARRIS: How did that invoice come to you, do you recall? 14
MR GAMBLE: Again, I would assume by mail with another 15
handwritten note from Nino. 16
MS HARRIS: Yes. Can we look at page 20, please. Is that the 17
handwritten note you’re referring to? 18
MR GAMBLE: That’s – that’s correct. 19
MS HARRIS: And you approved payment of that invoice? 20
MR GAMBLE: Yes, I did. 21
MS HARRIS: Again, not publications received by your school. 22
That’s what you’ve indicated? 23
MR GAMBLE: My school did not receive that publication, no. 24
MS HARRIS: Do you know if they were received by any school at 25
all? 26
MR GAMBLE: I do not know if they were received by any school. 27
MS HARRIS: Or if they were received by the Department. 28
MR GAMBLE: Not to my knowledge. 29
MS HARRIS: And did you make any inquiries as to - - - 30
MR GAMBLE: No, I did not. 1
MS HARRIS: - - - who that service was provided to? 2
MR GAMBLE: No, I did not. 3
MS HARRIS: So what was your – what do you consider your 4
authorisation to be, then, to go ahead and pay that 5
invoice? 6
MR GAMBLE: Again, I assume because I had the invoice which 7
seemed consistent with the initial funding that we had – 8
or the initial – his word – grant from Nino. The fact 9
that I had authorisation personally from Nino to pay it 10
and it came – there were sufficient funds in that account 11
to pay it and Nino – again Nino is the person in charge 12
of this stuff in the state. I assume that was sufficient 13
to pay that account. 14
MS HARRIS: And by “authorisation”, you’re referring to the 15 handwritten note? 16 MR GAMBLE: Yes. 17 MS HARRIS: Yes. 18
MR O’BRYAN: It seems to say that note, “This is the” – it’s 19
either “lost” or “last” but I assume it’s “last” - - - 20
MS HARRIS: “Last”. 21
MR GAMBLE: I assume it’s “last”. 22
MR O’BRYAN: - - - “invoice”. So that was mopping up the last 23
of the money. 24
MR GAMBLE: The way, yes, I read that. 25
MR O’BRYAN: Just before Christmas. 26
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 27
MS HARRIS: Could we have page 21, please. That’s the payment 28
voucher, isn’t it, in relation to that invoice? 29
MR GAMBLE: That’s correct. 30
MS HARRIS: For Encino, signed by you again. 1
MR GAMBLE: That’s correct. 2
MS HARRIS: Is that your assistant principal also? 3
MR GAMBLE: Yes, that is. 4
MS HARRIS: And your business manager. 5
MR GAMBLE: Business manager, yes. 6
MS HARRIS: What became of the money left – well, I should ask 7
you first of all, were any other invoices sent to 8
Laburnum that you can recall? 9
MR GAMBLE: Not to my knowledge, no. I believe there were 10
three – and my business manager is quite exceptional with 11
this – we – we believe they are the only invoices that 12
ever came to the school. Mathematically, I haven’t 13
worked it out because, again, I hadn’t been at school for 14
three years but I would assume there would be 1000 – 15
$1500 left over that would still be identified in the 16
school budgets, kept separate, but I don’t know that. 17
MS HARRIS: I’m advised it’s 2400. 18
MR GAMBLE: Is it? Okay, yes. 19
MS HARRIS: Were you provided with any instructions as to what 20
was to happen to that money? 21
MR GAMBLE: I have had no communication whatsoever from Nino 22
after that last note just preceding Christmas. 23
MS HARRIS: Was it usual that if there was anything left over 24
from a grant in relation to a program, that the banker 25
school could keep it? 26
MR GAMBLE: I would need to check that from – it would be 27
unusual for there to be significant sums of money left 28
over. I don’t know how dollar perfect some of these 29
things were, but our previous dealings certainly I – I 30
would assume – I would need to check that, but I would 1
assume they were very close to being dollar perfect. 2
MS HARRIS: So - - - 3
MR O’BRYAN: So did you not think or your business manager 4
think to chase up Mr Napoli over the remaining funds? 5
MR GAMBLE: I’m sorry, I missed the question. 6
MR O’BRYAN: Did you not think or your business manager think 7
to chase up Mr Napoli as to what you’re to do with the 8
surplus? 9
MR GAMBLE: I certainly didn’t think of it. I – once we paid 10
the invoice, I never gave it another thought. 11
MR O’BRYAN: Yes. 12
MR GAMBLE: As for Deirdre I’m not sure but I could – I can 13
check that, obviously. 14
MR O’BRYAN: I take it you’re pretty busy as a school 15
principal. 16
MR GAMBLE: Yes. 17
MS HARRIS: So you would expect that the money would just be 18
still within the account. 19
MR GAMBLE: I think the money would still be there, yes. 20
MS HARRIS: Did Laburnum Primary School receive any other 21
grants after 2009? 22
MR GAMBLE: From Nino or - - - 23
MS HARRIS: At all? 24
MR GAMBLE: Sorry, yes, grants in general, lots of them. 25
MS HARRIS: Yes. 26
MR GAMBLE: A rainwater grant for this – fairly mundane stuff 27
here, but a rainwater fitting, toilets for the hall, we