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Subscriber only The trial of an ex-council CEO accused of arranging a $500,000 severance payment for himself before he resigned has heard councillors thought the amount could come back to bite them. Former Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council chief executive Lee Robertson was charged with one count of fraud in 2015 after a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation. He had resigned from his role three years earlier. Mr Robertson pleaded not guilty to fraudulently obtaining $500,459.20 (before tax) when his trial began on Monday. Former councillors Carmen Rose Pearson, Dwayne Richard Bowen and Christopher Woibo gave evidence in the Maroochydore District Court on Wednesday along with former Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council s then acting CEO Ross Higgins and human resource manager Ivan Hagemeyer.