Man charged with stealing $2.9m from native title trust

WA Police have charged a 68-year-old Geraldton man after he allegedly stole $2.9 million from a native title claim trust account.

In 2004 the man was appointed as Trustee of a Peoples Trust established to receive royalty payments from mining companies within the Meekatharra Murchison region.

The man was removed as trustee in July 2017.

It will be alleged that he stole approximately $2.9 million from the trust to partly purchase the lease of a Geraldton hotel.

He has been charged with stealing as a servant and will appear before the Geraldton Magistrates Court on January 9 next year.