Andrew Gilmour claims he never gave permission for McCurdy to use his company letterheads to facilitate farm property sales – or collect $375,000 in commission.

Just over seven weeks before he stands for re-election, McCurdy was at Shepparton Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a committal hearing to face charges of making a false document, using a false document, attempt to obtain property by deception and obtain property by deception.

The court heard the call to “man up” came in an email from Mr Gilmour last week.

It is alleged that in 2009, before McCurdy was an MP, he sold two Katamatite dairy farms using Andrew Gilmour Real Estate letterheads.

Cobram Detective Sergeant Marcus Boyd said Mr Gilmour was not aware until he later heard about the sale of the Malmo and Pinegrove Park properties. “He said he found out about the Malmo family farm, he got a call from the investor, he didn’t know anything about it,” Detective Boyd said.

A complaint was made to Consumer Affairs in 2014, but the three-year statute of limitations had passed and the case was referred to police.

McCurdy and Mr Gilmour were colleagues in Cobram for years until PGG Wrightson Real Estate closed the business in 2009 and the pair went separate ways, but remained friends.

Mr Gilmour’s office manager Kelly Morey said it was after McCurdy took a job at a Shepparton real estate company that he came into the Cobram office and told her he was “just on the phone to Gilly”.

“He hung up and said he was on the phone to Andrew and could he get some letterheads,” she said in evidence.

Ms Morey said she believed the official Andrew Gilmour Real Estate letterhead was being used with permission.

She gave him a hard copy and possibly emailed an electronic version.

It was never brought up by Mr Gilmour.

“I don’t recall ever being in trouble for giving Tim the letterheads,” she said.

Pamela Anne George told the court she chose McCurdy as a real estate agent because of his farming background.

“He has run a dairy farm and he knew what dairy farming was like,” she said.

But she did not go as far as agreeing with the defence submission McCurdy had an “excellent reputation”.

An auction organised by McCurdy in September 2008 did not get any bids for the Pinegrove Park farm, which Ms George had owned since 1984.

He eventually sold the farm privately to Chinese investors in 2009, just months after they had pulled out of the initial contract.

“It made me question why there was such a short time between them not having money, then suddenly able to get money,” Ms George said.

She told the court she remembered the company name changed, and used Andrew Gilmour Real Estate when the sale occurred.

Ms Morey said she was aware of McCurdy’s involvement in trying to sell the Malmo and George dairy farms to Chinese investors before PGG Wrightson closed.

“The sales had fallen over as far as I was aware,” she said. “Tim had come through one day and all the deals were off.”

Ralph Malmo, the owner of the other property, died in 2016 before the police investigation was complete.

Answering a question from McCurdy’s barrister Ian Hill QC, Detective Boyd confirmed the commissions for both property sales was paid to Andrew Gilmour Real Estate, which then transferred the money to Mr McCurdy.

“Clearly Mr Gilmour knew where the commission came from and where it was going,” Mr Hill said.

Mr Gilmour is due to give evidence in court on Thursday, answering questions about what occurred in 2009 and a 2014 civil court case against McCurdy which had settled.

McCurdy, who denies the charges, sat in the front row of the courtroom on Wednesday with his wife Glenys, as his parents and adult children were in the rows behind.