Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has been released on parole from prison, after serving more than three years for 30 offences, including sexual assault, corruption, and fraud.
Pisasale, 71, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in the Wolston Correctional Centre in the Ipswich District Court in September 2020, after pleading guilty to the charges.
In sentencing, Judge Dennis Lynch KC said he took into account Pisasale's age, poor health and his show of remorse.
He was found guilty of extortion in the year prior, after he posed as a private investigator and demanded thousands of dollars from the ex-boyfriend of a Chinese escort.
Pisasale was first elected to Ipswich council in 1991 and served four terms as mayor, winning the 2016 Ipswich City Council election with more than 83 per cent of the vote.
He was dubbed "Mr Ipswich" and was considered the most popular politician in the country at the height of his career.
A litany of charges
In Pisasale's September 2020 trial, the court heard the former mayor used council money to purchase items at an auction, some of which he personally benefited from.
It also heard tens of thousands of donations were deposited into his personal bank account during his tenure as mayor.
Judge Lynch said it was clear Pisasale had used his role as mayor for personal financial benefit.
"Your misuse of these funds were therefore a gross abuse of your position as a trusted leader of the Ipswich community," he said.
"I conclude this dishonest conduct was a cynical exploitation of your position engaged in purely for your own financial gain."
In the September 2020 court proceedings, Pisasale was found to have "preyed upon" a young woman in December 2016, forcibly kissing her twice, and touching her in the Ipswich council office.
The court was also told Pisasale supported a developer application to go through council and received $28,500 in return from the developer.
He was found to have thrown his support behind a Yamanto development in exchange for discounted escort services and dinners, and was set to receive a "substantial" amount of money when the development was sold.
Pisasale was also found guilty of perjury after lying to a Crime and Corruption Commission hearing in 2017.
Controversies continue while jailed
In July of this year, a right to information investigation by Nine News revealed Pisasale and other current and former Ipswich councillors, spent $250,000 on at least two overseas trips.
RTI documents showed that as a director of Ipswich City Properties PTY Ltd (ICP), Pisasale, along with fellow directors, current Ipswich Councillor Paul Tully, and former Ipswich council chief executive Carl Wulff, spent $85,000 travelling across the United States more than a decade ago.
The group also embarked on a trip around Europe and the Middle East, making use of a private jet and five-star hotels.
In a letter detailing its findings in June 2020, which was not made public at the time, Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) labelled the expenses as "excessive spending".
At the time, ICP was wholly owned by the Ipswich City Council, established in 2009 with a $50 million loan from Queensland Treasury and $41 million in advances from council.
Wulff was sentenced to five years in jail in 2019 for corruption and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Tully is currently serving as an Ipswich councillor and in response to RTI documents revealing the spending, said he "did nothing wrong".
No charges have been laid against Mr Tully by the CCC and he hasn't been implicated in Pisasale or Wulff's wrongdoing.
