The Ex-Director of the Victorian Liberals Stole $1.5 Million and Is Going to Jail

Former Victorian Liberal Party director Damien Mantach has been sentenced to five years' prison. On Tuesday morning he pleaded guilty to defrauding the party of around $1.5 million over the course of four years.

Mantach was the Liberal party's state director for Tasmania until 2008, when he took on the same role in Victoria. And as is protocol around the country, state directors have access to party finances so they can manage business expenses.

In 2010 Mantach set up a business called Campaign Mail Logistics. As the name suggests, the company claimed to assist with distributing campaign material, and subsequently billed the Liberal Party for its non-existent services. Mantach was then able to direct funds into his own account.

He also took money in the form of kickbacks on inflated invoices from Melbourne Mailing, an official party supplier. Mantach had instructed the company to add a levy on random invoices sent to the party, making tracking more difficult.

Mantach told police that there was no one monitoring invoices within the party, but that he always expected to be caught. The scheme finally unraveled in August last year, and he admitted everything after a thorough audit.

The Liberal party has since recovered a third of the stolen money.

It's believed majority of it was used to purchase the Gusto Cafe in Queenscliff, run by Mantach's wife. The cafe cost $611,000 and Mantach told the court that the rest was intended to pay off debts, purchase shares and a car, and to save his failing marriage.

Lawyers said that the money wasn't stolen to live a glamorous lifestyle and their client had never intended to spend his money on material objects. As Mantach told the court, stolen cash "basically relieved pressure in my personal life."

The court heard that Mantach's marriage problems began when he moved his family from Victoria to Tasmania in 2005. His wife and children soon moved back to Victoria without him, and Mantach became lonely and stressed.

He moved back in 2010, partially to patch things up with his wife, but to no avail. "It was clearly a marriage that was in strife and this was his very simplistic way of dealing with it," County Judge Liz Gaynor said.

The charges carried a maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years, but Judge Gaynor took Mantach's willingness to come forward, his failing marriage, and clear remorse into account.

Mantach will serve a minimum of two years and eight months before being eligible for parole.

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