A Catholic leader accused of sexually assaulting several young Aboriginal men still has control of nine charities in his former diocese.
According to the most recent data, one of those has assets worth almost $700,000, while another has revenue of at least $1m.
Christopher Saunders – now described as “emeritus” bishop of Broome – was the subject of a Vatican investigation that detailed allegations of sexual assault and grooming against a former Western Australian bishop.
Channel Seven has reported that a leaked copy alleged Saunders spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in church and charity funds grooming potential victims by buying them goods, including mobile phones and alcohol, and giving them cash. The secret Vatican report has now been handed to WA police.
WA police confirmed they carried out two investigations into a number of complaints regarding a member of the Catholic church in the Kimberley between 2018 and 2020, but there was insufficient evidence to lay criminal charges.
Saunders denied all allegations. He stood aside in 2020 and stood down in 2021.
Saunders is still listed as the “responsible person” for nine charities, most of which are connected to parishes within the Broome diocese. Seven of them have no published financial information, which is not required for a “basic religious charity” under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) rules. All of them are overdue in their reporting.
One charity called the “Kimberley Native Mission Fund” (KNMF) brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars and at one point had assets worth $1.72m.
In 2014, KNMF’s income was $28,162. Its expenses were $25,577 and it had net assets of $1,257,930.
In 2015 its income was $255,190, almost all from individual donations. Its expenses were $1,347, while its net assets were $1.72m.
By 2020, the last year for which financial information is available, its income was $7,525, its expenses $82,548 and its assets had shrunk to $684,782.
The accounts do not mention being audited and have no explanation for the shrinking assets. The expenses are mostly listed as “other” or administration, with a fraction for unnamed charitable works or donations.
Guardian Australia has spoken to organisations and individuals in the Kimberley, none of whom had heard of the fund. There is no record of it online apart from its registration as a charity. Its governing document is from 1960, in the time of the stolen generations, and is a proposal for a fund to give money to “native missions”.
The only other charity with available financial information is the Mirrilingki Spirituality Centre, an accommodation centre with $355,143 in net assets as of 2020.
Six of the nine other charities are listed as small, meaning their revenue was under $250,000. One, the Kalumburu mission, was listed as large, meaning a revenue of more than $1m.
The Catholic priest John Purnell alerted police to allegations about Saunders after being approached by an alleged victim, a young Aboriginal man.
“Today’s the fifth anniversary of when that first [alleged] victim came to me,” he told Guardian Australia last week.
Purnell, who worked with Saunders in the Broome diocese, said he had never heard of the KNMF.
Everything that went on in the diocese office was “top secret”, he said.
“I just didn’t know anything about them. I’m gobsmacked,” Purnell said. “When I was working out at Balgo, Kalumburu, Halls Creek, I was never given any money to do anything at all. We were always told to tighten our belts.
“If anything went wrong or a dead tree needed to be removed, a leaky roof, you’d be fighting to get Saunders to get it fixed.
“He gave us targets and if we didn’t meet the targets, we’d get screamed at, but we never knew where the money was going.”
Purnell wants to see Saunders defrocked, his title of “emeritus bishop” removed and for him to be excommunicated from the church over the allegations in the Vatican report.
While there have been reports of boys among the alleged victims, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference says “no potential victims in the report were confirmed or identified as being under the age of 18”.
It also says it is cooperating with WA police, while the Sydney diocese says it is cooperating with New South Wales police.
The ACNC cannot speak publicly about specific charities beyond the information already published – those secrecy provisions are under review.
A spokesperson said that, in general, all charities were obliged to notify the ACNC of any changes to its responsible people and must tell the commission “every time a responsible person takes on or finishes a role as a responsible person”.
Charities must notify the ACNC of any changes within 28 days for medium or large charities and 60 days for small charities.
Under the commission’s rules, if a charity has twice failed to submit an annual information statement and failed to meet obligations, it is advised that it risks revocation, and if it fails after “several requests”, its registration is revoked.
The other person listed as a responsible person on all nine charities is Therese Rogers, the former finance officer for the diocese. Guardian Australia has attempted to contact Rogers.
WA police said they would not make any further comment at this time. The Geraldton bishop, Michael Morrissey, who is overseeing the Broome diocese, declined to speak because of the ongoing investigation.
Guardian Australia has contacted Saunders for a response.
• In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
