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The arrest of a former Goulburn businessman as part of a suspected international drug ring, has “amazed” a district grazier.
Rohan Arnold, 44, now of Yass, was arrested in Serbia on January 18. The former director of liquidated north Goulburn business, Mass Steel, is accused of money laundering in connection with an alleged attempt to smuggle more than a tonne of cocaine into Sydney last year.
Police said the drug, reported to be worth $500 million, was found in 2576 packages hidden in steel tubes on a Chinese container ship.
Mr Arnold was arrested with former Mass Steel general manager, David Campbell, 48, and 43-year-old Tristan Waters when police stormed a Belgrade hotel during an alleged money exchange.
Mr Arnold is also a director of the new South Eastern Regional Livestock Exchange (SELX) at Yass.
Goulburn district grazier Tony Morrison said he met Mr Arnold for the first time at SELX’s inaugural sale in August, 2016.
“It’s a disturbing development,” he said of the arrest.
“I was really surprised to hear about it and I hope it doesn’t have ramifications down the track.”
Mr Morrison first came up with the idea of a regional saleyard some 19 years ago when he and others were dissatisfied with the level of competition at Goulburn’s complex.
But after planting the seed for a complex with Yass stock and station agent, Col Medway from 2009/10, Mr Morrison said he had no further involvement in site selection or development beyond 2011.
We’ve all been led astray and duped. He’s brought us into disrepute just by association.
- Yass Valley Mayor Rowena Abbey
Mr Medway would go on to build the saleyard with Yass developer Brendan Abbey, who owned the land, and a partnership of private investors, including his wife and Yass Valley Mayor, Rowena Abbey, Mr Arnold and his wife, Tamara, David and Jenny Hewlett, Mr Medway’s wife, Megan, Angus and Alex Metcalfe and Norm and Christine Nappar.
Mr Arnold’s arrest has stunned the saleyard industry, including Goulburn agents selling at SELX.
Cr Abbey, a SELX director, also says she’s not embarrassed but “gobsmacked, shocked and angry.”
“All we’re aware of is that he’s been arrested, but it wouldn’t matter whether he’s innocent or not anymore for us (shareholders). We don’t want him to be involved in the business anymore and we’ve said so publicly,” she said.
Cr Abbey said they would seek to remove Mr Arnold as a director of SELX and Yass Industrial Park Pty Ltd, of which Mr Abbey is also a director, and the Western Victorian Livestock Exchange (WVLX), which opened in Mortlake on Monday.
However they had to firstly follow a legal process.
“He [Mr Abbey], like all of us, has been completely blindsided,” she said.
“No one thought this would happen to us, especially in our town and for a close-knit group of people who know that we’ve got a good project.
“We’ve all been led astray and duped. He’s brought us into disrepute just by association."
The Mayor said Mr Abbey first met Mr Arnold in 2014 when they were introduced by a “mutual business associate,” whom she declined to name. Cr Abbey met him after that.
As a steel manufacturer, Mr Arnold was interested in quoting on the SELX job. After the complex’s planning approval in September, 2014, he became a business partner.
Two years earlier, Mr Arnold’s Goulburn business, Mass Steel, trading as Old MS Pty Ltd, had been placed in liquidation with alleged debts of $11.5 million.
Liquidators Kazar Slaven claimed the company had been insolvent since July, 2011, seven months after it established in Goulburn.
Asked whether the company undertook due diligence, Cr Abbey said she was “certainly aware of” Mr Arnold’s Goulburn steel business history. The partners subsequently questioned him and were “satisfied with the answers.”
“At the time, he told us that he had been put into administration, which was the truth. We did our own investigations as to why that had come about,” she said.
“The events in Goulburn were public information and that was certainly part of the conversation that we explored before entering a partnership.”
Cr Abbey disputed that it was a liquidation. However chartered accountants and insolvency practitioner, Kazar Slaven’s report clearly states the firm was appointed liquidator on June 13, 2012 by Mr Arnold.
She said the consortium was not aware of his other business interests and included him as a partner due to his building and construction background.
Mr Arnold sourced steel from China for both SELX and WVLX. But a separate entity, ProWay Livestock Equipment in Wagga Wagga, which designs and builds livestock-handling facilities, also provided some. Cr Abbey described the latter as a “very reputable firm.”
In verifying and approving the steel used at SELX, she said the council’s structural engineer would have assessed all materials during development to ensure they met Australian standards.
Cr Abbey said she was focused on the continued operations of SELX and WVLX.
“There is no reason for them to close. Rohan Arnold is only one of a group of shareholders. He is not the majority by a long shot,” she said.
“These businesses will operate as they have operated, and they are good businesses.”
Cr Abbey said the arrest had no impact on her mayoral role and the council. Further, she had done “absolutely nothing wrong” and “had not brought any disrepute to the council.”
In related news, the Western Victorian Livestock Exchange, of which Mr Arnold and Mr Abbey are also directors, opened at Mortlake on Monday.
The Warrnambool Standard reported that Mr Arnold’s arrest “was more the subject of humour than serious concern for vendors.” Mr Abbey told the newspaper the arrest had been a major distraction to the big workload of final preparations.