By George

A rorters catalogue ... RIP "Sir" Arthur George ... Soapy George Brandis and his slippery expense claims ... Wedding business and a sense of entitlement ... New attorney general crippled at the start  

"Sir" Arthur George - tried to suppress Justinian's reports of his professional misconduct

FINALLY, the Curse of Justinian has struck the old rogue "Sir" Arthur George who last month shuffled off the mortal coil. 

George (aka Athanasios Theodore Tzortzatos) was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, property developer, pancake shop proprietor, solicitor, soccer czar and bankrupt. 

He was gonged for "services to soccer" in the Askin era. He loved collecting baubles and went out feet first with the Centenary Medal, the Coronation Medal, the Cross Order of Phoenix (Greece), Grand Cmdr and Keeper of Laws, Cross of St Marks and Cross of Mt Athos and the Gold Order of Merit from FIFA. 

The important thing is that he took proceedings against Justinian in 1982 to stop publication of details of disciplinary charges that had been brought against him by the Law Society. 

He was subsequently found by the Statutory Committee to have:

• Improperly intermingled the financial affairs of clients with those of his companies.
• Failed to ensure that any of the clients who deposited money with his companies received separate and independent advice.
• Failed adequately to protect the interests of any of the clients who advanced money.
• Failed to make adequate disclosure to his clients of his interests in the companies.

He was guilty of professional misconduct and fined a whopping $1,000. 

When Justinian learned he was in the frame for rorting his clients' money we rang him to confirm details of the story. He raced immediately to the Supreme Court and got an in chambers, secret suppression order. 

In 1994, the canny Grecian went belly-up. 

He said he had $61,738 in a bank account and $105 in assets and property, which included two watches and two sets of cufflinks worth $50. His gold plated medal, which was an award from the international soccer federation, was worthless.

In the previous 12 months he said that his income was $3,000 and he expects a similar income in the next 12 months.

All the furniture and effects at his home in Vaucluse were purchased by the Sir Arthur George Trust and subsequently sold to his wife Lady Renee George.

Things fell apart in a serious manner when Tricontinental Corporation got a judgment against Sir Arthur for $431,000 in May 1993. 

He claimed that property sales and the hoped-for success of various ventures, such as holiday resorts in Spain and the redevelopment of Wembly Stadium in London, would pull him through. 

Sadly, that didn't happen. 

Sir Arthur was the second person involved in proceedings against this organ who has been stuck by The Curse of Justinian.

Dr Michael Pickering, formerly of Dunhill Madden Butler in Melbourne, was cursed after he acted in defamation proceedings against Justinian in 1983, brought by a Melbourne barrister called O'Sullivan QC.

Pickering was subsequently struck down by the Curse following allegations of plagiarism against him.

He had carefully copied out an article from some learned overseas magazine and had it published under his own name in the Law Institute Journal.

Despite the efforts of some to save him from a count of professional misconduct he was prised from the jam roll. 

The curse is still out there. Lurking. Waiting to strike. You have been warned. 

*   *   *

MARCUS PRIEST legal affairs and climate change writer for the Financial Review is leaving the paper after 15 years as a reptile of the press. 

He is making his bed at Sparke Helmore in Canberra. 

He must have seen the writing on the wall for the print business. 

*   *   *

The groom, the bride and the polly - hard at work (pic News)

MAYBE the Commonwealth AG's department is being cautious retaining the names of Mark Dreyfus and Jason Clare at the top of its organisational structure.  

Soapy Brandis "QC", bouncing from one diddle to another, has commenced in his job as attorney general with a serious credibility dent. 

As we speak, reptiles of the press are scouring Soapy's travel and other expenses to see if further dubious claims have been made on the revenue. 

You can check out the last two half-year entitlement reports covering Brandis' claims, prepared by the Department of Finance, here and here.  

He spuriously claimed, and still does, that his attendance at the wedding of shock jock Michael Smith was "primarily for work-related purposes".  

Subsequently, it emerged that the taxpayer had endowed his personal library to the tune of $13,000. 

It includes works such as The Marmalade Files, Best Australian Political Cartoons, a three part history of Byzantium, Simon Schama's Scribble, Scribble, Scribble, Roget's Thesaurus, John Howard's Lazarus Rising, Gray's Anatomy - Selected Writings ...  

See the full book list here. 

He paid back nearly $1,700 to the Department of Finance because he got caught - not because for one minute he thought it was wrong to scalp the taxpayer for the unadulterated pleasure of "mixing with journalists" at the wedding of a bone-headed, right-wing polemicist. 

His sense of entitlement remains firmly in place. 

As Jack Waterford asked in The Canberra Times, can you imaging politicians from the Menzies era actually socialising with such people?  

It's also been reported that Brandis spoke at the wedding about the virtues of free speech - a special treat for the guests. 

As shadow AG, Soapy made a big play over Peter Slipper and Craig Thomson, for allegedly - would you believe it? - fiddling expenses? 

So the label of "hypocrite" can also be stuck to his forehead.  

Expense fiddler … hypocrite ... attorney general. 

Prime Minister Abbott was left with little option but to remove George from the task of oversighting the new ministerial code of conduct. 

In fact, his capacity to apply proper ethical judgment to any aspect of the attorney general's functions is now questionable. 

Barnaby Joyce also recited a wedding poem called Fair Dinkum Love. 

It was plucked from a marriage celebrants' web site, and set the tone beautifully for these special nuptials.  

A few lines of the doggrel: 

Fair dinkum love isn't about stiff posture and smart clothes
It's about wrestling on the couch in your tracksuit.
It's not about oysters and candle-lit dinners
It's about bringing home Chinese when your partner’s had a busy day … 

I'll spare you any more.