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A serial conman who stole $250,000 from his employer in a bid to bring high-profile cricket stars to Australia has avoided a stint behind bars and will instead perform 200 hours of unpaid community work.
Navishta Desilva, 36, faced the County Court of Victoria on Monday after pleading guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception, using the money to make luxury purchases and pay international cricket stars to play in suburban exhibition matches.
Navishta Desilva arrives at the County Court.Credit: Joe Armao
The court heard Desilva was working for a security solutions company in Mulgrave in 2020 when he began falsifying invoices and directing payments straight to his personal accounts.
At the time, Desilva was also the owner and operator of Global Talent Entertainment, a management firm representing people in the fields of sport, music and live performance.
Desilva promised clients he could organise T20 matches featuring big-name international players including West Indies legend Chris Gayle and Sri Lankan stars Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne.
But when the sponsorship money to back the event didn’t come through, Desilva used some of the stolen money to fund it.
Left to right: Lahiru Thirimanne, Dimuth Karunaratne, Shoaib Malik, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle and Dawid Malan were all billed to be playing.Credit: Steve Kiprillis
One of the matches, for Endeavour Hills cricket club, went ahead, but another did not.
“So many people were relying on me to make it happen, bringing the players to the club and hosting T20 games,” Desilva later told a psychologist. “I was under a lot of pressure and I did not want to let anyone down.
“I felt I had to make this work. I couldn’t fail, I did not want to disappoint people, it was humiliating. I broke the trust of a lot of people, I’ve brought shame on my family. I wish I could take it all back.”
In July 2022, Desilva was sacked from his Mulgrave job for poor performance with an audit later uncovering 18 discrepancies linked to his activities.
Navishta Desilva arrives at the County Court.Credit: Joe Armao
Judge David Brookes said the amounts stolen ranged from $2700 to $36,407. Some of the money went to Desilva’s company, $6670 to his then fiancee in the lead-up to their wedding, with $37,000 paid to Dilshan and more than $5500 to Thirimanne.
Other money was used to make high-end purchases, including at Louis Vuitton and Luxury Escape holidays.
Brookes noted that money stolen had since been repaid with loans from Desilva’s family.
“The degree of planning involved showed a preparedness to be devious in operating a complicated criminal enterprise over some 16 months,” Brookes said.
“[The defence] submitted you committed these offences in the course of your efforts to bring international cricketers to suburban Melbourne.
“You felt trapped by the promises you made … and the hype and publicity gained. When you failed to secure the sponsorship funding, you resorted to the offending.”
The court heard Desilva was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Australia when he was 20, working in sales, cleaning and hospitality until he got a job as a DJ at Club 23 at Crown Casino.
He was inspired to start his own entertainment company after meeting people in the industry there, but after securing investors and bringing two “well-known” hip hop artists to tour Australia, the venture collapsed in 2013.
Brookes noted Desilva had previously appeared before court in 2010 and 2012 for offences including theft and obtaining financial advantage by deception.
Desilva pleaded guilty to a single charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception, being close to $250,000, between March 26, 2021, and July 17, 2022.
Brookes said while he must deter others from behaving like Desilva, the 36-year-old was “desperate” to avoid jail.
“Your actions were plainly dishonest, seen by you to be dishonest and involved a high degree of devious behaviour,” he said.
“The community would ordinarily expect a jail term of an offence of this type. I’ve thought long and hard.”
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