Source : the age
Jailed former Labor minister Eddie Obeid will get to keep his “socks and jocks” as well as the $30 million he made from a corrupt coal licence deal after the NSW Crime Commission concluded that pursuing a criminal confiscation case against the 81-year-old and his family was not feasible.
“It’s a sad but unavoidable conclusion,” the NSW Crime Commissioner, Michael Barnes, said.
Jailed former NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid.Credit: Daniel Munoz
When Eddie Obeid, his son Moses, 56, and former mining minister Ian Macdonald, 76, were jailed in October 2021 over a corrupt coal licence deal, the then-premier Dominic Perrottet expressed shock and outrage when this masthead revealed that the Obeids would keep the millions they had received.
“You can’t act corruptly, you can’t make $30 million and keep it,” said the premier at the time. “It’s outrageous if that’s the case.”
Then-police minister David Elliott was equally outraged. The NSW Crime Commission should go after the “socks and jocks” of Obeid if it has to, said Elliot, promising to give the criminal intelligence agency additional powers and funding to claw back the money.
But after a lengthy review, Barnes, along with Mark Pulvirenti, the director of confiscations, has concluded that due to the length of the time, the destruction of records, and the complexity of the Obeids’ use of myriad trusts and corporations, it would not be prudent to pursue the matter.
Crime Commissioner Michael Barnes has decided not to pursue a proceeds of crime case against corrupt ex-minister Eddie Obeid.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Barnes acknowledged that this was a “disappointing” outcome given that Obeid’s crimes were “outrageous” and the public had a right to expect that any proceeds from his crimes should be confiscated.
But the reality is that the Obeid cupboard is bare, he said. The $30 million from the crooked deal went into the Obeid coffers in 2010. In the 15 years since then, assets such as houses have been sold, and the millions that flowed through complex family trusts to the Obeids and their nine children and their families have long since gone.
“It’s a sad but unavoidable conclusion that we can’t run it,” Barnes said of the decision not to commence a proceeds of crime action to recover the $30 million. Due to the paucity of documents and bank records, the chances of running a successful confiscation case would be doubtful. Barnes also expressed concern that if the case was unsuccessful, the commission risked “getting a cost order against us”.
“It’s about best utilising the resources that we have to maximise the return for people of NSW,” said Pulvirenti, explaining that the time and money spent pursuing a doubtful action against the Obeids would be better deployed elsewhere.
The commissioner said it would have been different if the organisation had been involved with the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which investigated the matter, at the outset. If that had been the case, the Obeids’ assets could have been frozen and financial records seized.
In recent years, there has been a move for the two agencies to work together. For instance, last year, when the ICAC raided a road safety company in northern NSW, officers from the Crime Commission were on hand. Assets were frozen and about $100,000 in cryptocurrency, as well as luxury cars, including a Bentley and a Range Rover, were seized.
Meanwhile, the Australian Taxation Office is still pursuing Obeid family members – but not Eddie or Moses – for their failure to pay tax on the $30 million. The ATO is chasing the family for almost $9 million in taxes and penalties. With interest, that amount is likely to be substantially more.
The matter, now in its 11th year, will return to court on July 3.
Eddie Obeid is due to be released in August, having served three years and 10 months for misconduct in public office in relation to the grant of a coal exploration licence.
Former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid, Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly.Credit: Dean Sewell, Rob Homer
Obeid and former ministers Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly will face separate trials next year over allegations that they doctored a cabinet submission to gain favourable treatment for Australian Water Holdings, in which the Obeids held an interest.
