Victorian prosecutors have withdrawn fraud charges against two Mildura brothers, who were alleged to have defrauded Rabobank of $19 million.
The Office of Public Prosecution said the charges were discontinued because there was no reasonable prospect of conviction and prosecution was not in the public interest.
In August 2024, Coomealla-based wine grapegrowers David Littore and Vincent John Littore were charged with fraud, perjury and perverting the course of justice relating to allegations they defrauded Rabobank Australia of $19.72 million between October 2015 and October 2016.
The men’s lawyers appeared in the County Court of Victoria last week to inform the court that the eight charges of fraud, perjury and perverting the course of justice levelled against them had been dropped.
Charge sheets showed the men were accused of conspiring to conceal transactions between the Littore Group and accounts with the Macquarie Bank, and in doing so, not honouring the conditions of the loan they had taken out with Rabobank.
The charge sheets alleged the brothers created the company Mandile Partnership to divert revenue from the Littore Group so Rabobank Australia could not see the money, meaning it would not have oversight of the loan and a right to claim revenue.
The charges were dropped in a discontinuation hearing at the County Court of Victoria in February. (ABC News: Patrick Rocca)
The brothers were due to face trial over the alleged crimes.
“The Littore family notes that the charges attracted significant media coverage at the time they were laid,” Vincent Littore, 63, said in a statement to the ABC.
“No findings of guilt were made against either man. The matter is now finalised.”
In the statement to the media, the brothers said their Jindalee Road Wines vineyard continued to operate.
“The Littore family has built their business over many decades and remains committed to the Australian wine industry.”
Rabobank Australia declined to comment.
The brothers were accused of misleading the prosecution case in the Supreme Court of Victoria. (ABC News: Shane Willner-Browne)
Export licence ‘not fundamental’, owner says
In June 2024, Wine Australia revoked Jindalee Road Wines’s export licence for failure to comply with labelling and record-keeping requirements.
Vincent Littore told the ABC that he didn’t see the export licence as fundamental to the operations of the business at the moment.
“This is not to say that, at some point in future, Jindalee won’t apply for reinstatement,” he said.
There are more than 8,000 irrigated farms across the Murray-Darling Basin. (ABC News: Nathan Morris)
The discontinuation of the charges follows separate proceedings against Jindalee Road Wines over water theft.
In March 2024, Jindalee Road Wines Pty Ltd and former manager David Littore, 57, were fined almost $500,000 for stealing water for their 1,200-hectare property after pleading guilty to four charges .
But in October that year, a judge ruled the fine had been miscalculated, resulting in a much higher and revised combined penalty of $877,500, and an appeal was launched.
That appeal was successful in December, when the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal ordered the company and David Littore to pay a lower, combined $558,000 fine.
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