Former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias has been charged with multiple fraud offences, including obtaining financial advantage by deception and using false documents. These charges follow a 2022 Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) report that found Petroulias and others engaged in serious misconduct related to property dealings involving the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council (ALALC).

Petroulias's then-partner, lawyer Despina Bakis, and former deputy chairperson of the ALALC board Richard Green have also been charged with fraud. Green faces additional charges concerning misconduct in public office.

The trio were at the center of a long-running ICAC investigation known as Operation Skyline, which examined proposed property dealings between ALALC and Gows Heat Pty Ltd (Gows), a company secretly controlled by Petroulias. ICAC found that Gows and ALALC entered into "sham" agreements that falsely purported to grant Gows an option to purchase five New South Wales properties. These rights were then intended to be sold to Sunshine Property Investment Group Pty Ltd (Sunshine).

The commission reported that Bakis, acting as lawyer for both Gows and ALALC, allegedly prepared false contractual documents. Petroulias altered handwritten ALALC board meeting minutes to reflect the proposed sale to Gows without the board's knowledge or approval. More than $1 million from Sunshine ended up with Petroulias's company Gows, despite ALALC having no entitlement to those funds.

ICAC also uncovered hundreds of transactions made on credit cards during 2016, including purchases such as an $853 queen mattress and base from Fantastic Furniture and $159 worth of cosmetics from a boutique in Rose Bay.

The charges come four years after ICAC referred the matter to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.

Notable Details

  • Bakis reportedly used a passport under the name Daphne Diomedes and held a Tasmanian driver's licence.

Sources

ABC Australia News by Amy Greenbank, published July 15, 2026.