Andrew Grimwade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Andrew Grimwade CBE (born November 26, 1930) is an Australian philanthropist, businessman, cattle breeder, and public citizen. He is known for his long association with the National Gallery of Victoria, and for his involvement in the trial known as the JetCorp Fiasco.
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[edit] Family background
Andrew Grimwade is the son of Frederick Sheppard Grimwade, great-grandson of Frederick Sheppard Grimwade (founder of the Grimwade family fortune in Australia), and great-great-grandson of Edward Grimwade of Grimwade & Ridley & Company, London.
As pioneers of the pharmaceutical industry in Victoria, the Grimwade family established the glass industry, the sulphuric acid and super phosphate industries, and later the industrial gases industry. Following various mergers, purchases, and spin-offs, the firms originally founded or co-founded by Frederick Sheppard Grimwade became Felton Grimwade & Bickford (manufacturers of Bosisto's Eucalyptus Oil), Drug Houses of Australia Ltd and Australian Consolidated Industries Ltd.
Andrew Grimwade's father, Frederick Sheppard Grimwade, died when Andrew was 19. Andrew Grimwade's brother, the Honorable Frederick Sheppard Grimwade, served for many years as President of the Legislative Council of Victoria.
[edit] Business career
From 1959 to 2001, Grimwade was Principal of the Green Valley Cattle Company. In 1996, Certified Australian Angus Beef Ltd. was formed and he was appointed its Deputy Chairman, and was involved in building it into Australia’s leading branded beef program[citation needed] until his retirement in 2006.
[edit] Philanthropist
In 1968, Grimwade donated 26 km² (2630 hectares) of coastal land with a 27-kilometer ocean frontage on the Coorong in South Australia to the State Government for the new Coorong National Park. This represents about 5.6% of the park's total area, but over 15% of the coastline.
Grimwade has been involved as a patron and executive with many charitable organizations, including:
- Chairman of the Felton Bequests Committee, a foundation created in 1904 by his great-grandfather's business partner, Alfred Felton, and primarily dedicated to purchasing art work for the National Gallery of Victoria.
- President (1976-1990), trustee, and life member of the National Gallery of Victoria.
- Trustee of the Victorian Arts Centre.
- Patron of the Miegunyah Press, an imprint of the University of Melbourne Press established by a bequest from Grimwade's great-granduncle Russell Grimwade.
- Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Victoria
- Fellow and Life Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute
- Life Member of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
- Founding Chairman of the Australian Arts Exhibition Corporation, which presented The Chinese Exhibition in 1976.
[edit] Public citizen
Grimwade's public service includes:
- Member of the Australian Government’s first trade mission to China in 1973.
- Founding Member of the Australian Government Remuneration Tribunal
- Inaugural Member of the Council for the Order of Australia (1975-1982)
- Chairman of the Australian Government Committee on Official Establishments (1976-1978)
- Founding Chairman of the Australian Government Official Establishments Trust (1979-1982).
[edit] Conviction for fraud and conspiracy
In 1992, Grimade was charged with fraud and conspiracy for his involvement in a false prospectus issued for an entity called Jetcorp Australia Unit Trust.
The trial became the longest running criminal trial in Victoria history. After a first jury had sat for seven months, Grimwade's wife died and he was granted a new trial. The second jury sat for over nine months, during which time the judge and some jurors were absent at various times for medical reasons.
The length of the trial was exacerbated by the defense strategy of continually challenging Crown statements, with the result that the Crown was required to strictly prove each and every bit of evidence irrespective of whether it was in dispute or germane to the defense.
This strategy ultimately succeeded. Grimwade was found guilty on nineteen counts of fraud and conspiracy, but the verdict was overturned on appeal, the appellate judge ruling that the case had become so convoluted that it had become impossible for the jury to render a proper verdict.
[edit] Publications
Grimwade, Andrew. Involvement; the portraits of Clifton Pugh & Mark Strizic (Australia, 1968, Sun Books) ISBN B0000CPM7D
[edit] Notes
- ^ Taft, Mark and Parsons, David. Going off the rails, Law Institute of Victoria Law Institute Journal, 68 No 9 , September 1994, pages 863-865 (case: R. v. Jon Dean Wilson and Andrew Sheppard Grimwade)]
- ^ Rozenes, M. The new procedures for the prosecution of complex fraud - will they work? (speech), 28th Australian Legal Convention, September 1993, documented at Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions site
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Law Matters - Episode 5: Juries - Tuesday June 26, 2001
- ^ Hailstone, Robert (Director, Corruption Prevention Division, Criminal Justice Commission) An equation for corruption in the workplace (speech), 1996 Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia (IPAA) National Conference, Brisbane, May 3 1996 - PDF file
