AAA<\/p>\n
A former senior National Gallery of Victoria employee has been charged by the state\u2019s corruption watchdog after allegedly siphoning $8 million from the gallery over six years.<\/p>\n
The former employee is accused of using an NGV account to buy mobile phones, which he then sold for millions in personal financial benefit.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/b1208262a4106afa3a2d4bb20a709e949a0bf531.jpeg\")
A senior NGV employee is accused of siphoning $8 million from the gallery for personal gain.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n
He is also accused of using his position at the NGV to cover up the alleged conduct.<\/p>\n
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) charged the ex-employee with seven counts of theft and one count of misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n
The corruption watchdog launched the investigation, dubbed Operation Sonder, in September 2025. The alleged offending occurred between September 2019 until September last year.<\/p>\n
An NGV spokesperson said the employee was fired in September 2025 after the alleged offending was reported to Victoria Police and IBAC.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The employee\u2019s alleged conduct occurred between September 2019 up to his termination.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said the gallery has adopted \u201cnew measures and controls\u201d to \u201cstrengthen our systems and processes\u201d since uncovering the alleged financial fraud.<\/p>\n
The gallery declined to answer questions about how the alleged missing millions went undetected for so long.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NGV worked with IBAC while they undertook an investigation. The matter is now before the courts. While the matter remains before court no further information will be provided,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Creative Industries Minister Vicki Ward said the alleged offending was \u201cdisgraceful\u201d but also declined to answer any specific questions.<\/p>\n
NGV staff members are considered public servants.<\/p>\n
Gallery staff were informed of the alleged crime on Thursday afternoon in an email sent by NGV director Tony Ellwood and obtained by The Age. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe NGV was the subject of a financial fraud involving an individual employee \u2026 the behaviour breached NGV policies and procedures and the [Victorian Public Sector] Code of Conduct,\u201d Ellwood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe actions were those of one individual, and not a reflection of our values as an organisation or the diligence and professionalism of other NGV staff members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand this news is distressing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ellwood instructed staff to forward any questions they received about the case to the gallery\u2019s People and Culture team.<\/p>\n
The man is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court on October 20.<\/p>\n
More to come<\/p>\n
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Carla Jaeger<\/a> is a journalist for The Age. Got a tip? Email carla.jaeger@theage.com.au or message carlajaeger.62 on Signal.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated September 24, 2026 \u2014 1:48pm,first published 1:06pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-903423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}