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Former Crown Casino DJ and aspiring events promoter Navishta Desilva had it all lined up – falsify invoices at his employer, bring high-profile Sri Lankan cricketers out to play in Melbourne, and get married to his fiancee.
He did the first – on Friday pleading guilty in the County Court to dishonestly obtaining almost $250,000. He partially achieved the second, with one of two planned T20 games played in Melbourne. But didn’t get the hat trick after his partner called off their wedding once he was arrested.
Navishta Desilva arrives at the County Court.Credit: Joe Armao
Desilva, 36, used the money help fund a Twilight T20 event to be held at Shepley Oval in Dandenong in late 2022, with the Endeavour Hills Cricket Club.
Players advertised to attend included West Indies legend Chris Gayle, Sri Lankan stars Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne.
The court heard Desilva, also known as Demuni Navishta De Silva, falsified tax invoices and purchase orders for his Mulgrave employer OmniVision, an electronic surveillance and security company specialising in CCTV, that were purportedly from a legitimate supplier called CCTV Masters.
Crown prosecutor Toni Stokes said this occurred on 18 different occasions between March 26, 2021, and July 17, 2022, whereby the Doncaster-based Desilva changed payment details to funnel invoice money into his Westpac bank account.
Left to right: Lahiru Thirimanne, Dimuth Karunaratne, Shoaib Malik, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle and Dawid Malan were all billed to be playing.Credit:
Some of that money, the court heard, was then used to finance his personal business and make luxury purchases at places including Louis Vuitton and Luxury Escapes.
Other money was then sent to his then-fiancee before their pending wedding was called off after his arrest.
Stokes said that at the time of the offending Desilva was working as a warehouse assistant at the Mulgrave headquarters of OmniVision, where he was responsible for completing purchase orders and replenishing stock.
She said Desilva was also the owner and operator of Global Talent Entertainment, a self-described talent management firm also referred to as GTE, which represented people in sport, music and live performance.
Navishta Desilva arrives at the County Court.Credit: Joe Armao
When his employment at OmniVision was terminated in July 2022, an audit later found discrepancies including missing stock linked to Desilva.
Stokes said an investigation found Desilva changed payment and contact details on invoices to his personal details, which allowed him to syphon money while still transferring some money to CCTV Masters. No one else was charged in connection with the offending.
Of the money fraudulently obtained, almost $190,000 was deposited into Desilva’s accounts, with $37,000 paid to Dilshan and more than $5500 to Thirimanne. Only one of the two planned cricket games ever eventuated.
Defence barrister Sam Norton said his client was born and raised in Sri Lanka, where he played junior cricket for the same side as Kumar Sangakkara.
At the age of 20, he moved to Australia, leaving behind ambitions to pursue a professional career in cricket, and worked as a part-time DJ at Crown Casino and later as a promoter for Live Nation.
When he began working for OmniVision and asked to play for their cricket team, Norton said he began promoting cricket events through his own company.
He said his client had since borrowed money from friends and family to help repay the money he’d taken and was now working at Toyota during the day and a labour-hire company at night to repay his debts.
“There are people who are expecting events to go ahead, excited by prospects of international cricket players coming to suburban events … so players at that club could rub shoulders with former international players,” Norton said.
“What followed was an … ineffective arrangement and organisation for the actual events.
“He over-committed. Rather than call it off and back away, Mr Desilva made the decision he made.”
Judge David Brookes said Desilva now faced time behind bars and labelled his offending as devious and prolonged.
Brookes said the offending also appeared somewhat sophisticated, other than the paying of money into the 36-year-old’s personal accounts.
The court heard the current offending followed earlier similar criminal behaviour from 2011, when Desilva dishonestly obtained an advantage from another employer, that time a petrol station.
“He’s done this before,” Brookes said.
Endeavour Hills Cricket Club declined to comment when contacted on Friday but said Desilva was no longer a member.
The matter will return to court later this month.
The maximum penalty for the offence is 10 years in jail.
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