Inverell fraud: Samuel Alexander Monie pleads not guilty, accused of cattle fraud in New England region

Samuel Alexander Monie was due to front court on Monday for the first time, accused of three counts of fraud.

The 52-year-old from Inverell was charged in early January, after a nine-month investigation by detectives from the New England Rural Crime Prevention Team.

Monie did not appear in person when his case was called at Moree Local Court on Monday morning, after he was excused from attending.

A solicitor for Monie entered three counts of not guilty to the charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Magistrate Peter Bugden ordered police to serve the brief of evidence by the start of April and adjourned the case back to the same court in mid-April.

In April 2019, police from the New England Rural Crime Prevention Team investigated allegations cattle had been fraudulently sold to abattoirs with altered identifiers.

About 200 cattle, which were owned by a finance company, allegedly had their National Livestock Identification Scheme ear tags replaced and were sold directly to abattoirs in Inverell and Dinmore, Queensland, between January and March last year.

Police allege these sales totalled more than $192,000.

In July, the Rural Crime Prevention Team and Queensland Police Major and Organised Crime Squad (Rural) executed warrants at Bingara and Goondiwindi properties, where several hundred cattle were mustered and examined.

Following investigations, Monie was then charged in January.