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Raids underway at properties linked to Salim Mehajer
By Lucy Cormack
Properties linked to family members and business associates of Salim Mehajer have been raided by police and forensic accountants in search of financial records to manage his bankruptcy.
The disgraced former deputy mayor of Auburn council was declared bankrupt by the Federal Circuit Court in March, while he was in prison awaiting trial on charges of perverting the course of justice.
Salim Mehajer.Credit: AAP
Eight properties across western Sydney were targeted on Tuesday by forensic accountants and investigators from the Australian Financial Security Authority, alongside police and representatives from Mehajer's registered bankruptcy trustee Pitcher Partners, who requested the raids.
In a statement Pitcher Partners said the properties were linked to "accountants, lawyers, family members and other associated entities" of Mehajer, who were "believed to be holding records pertaining to Mehajer’s business property and affairs".
Bankruptcy trustee Paul Weston, of Pitcher Partners, requested the raids after almost three months of investigation by the firm since Mehajer was declared bankrupt on March 20.
"We have seized a range of documents and some property, so we have accomplished what we wanted to achieve today," Mr Weston said in a statemnet.
"We will now sift through the files and documents we have taken into possession as the next phase of our investigation."
Mehajer is expected to seek to have the bankruptcy annulled or cancelled on the basis he has the funds to pay his debts.
An AFSA spokeswoman said the property searches began early on Tuesday morning and some were still ongoing at 1.30pm.
She said the raids were planned, after Mehajer's registered trustee asked for assistance to obtain documents related to his bankruptcy.
Under the Bankruptcy Act, a trustee of a bankrupt estate can apply to the Official Receiver for assistance to recover books and records, which allows AFSA officials to access premises and recover books associated with the bankruptcy.
It is understood the agency will make an additional statement about the raids on Tuesday afternoon.
A spokesman for NSW Police confirmed a police presence at the raids on Tuesday, where they were assisting the agency "merely to keep the peace".
The liquidator appointed to Mehajer's failed company, SM Project Developments, served a bankruptcy notice on the property developer in September last year and kicked off bankruptcy proceedings in November over a $200,000 debt.
A range of other creditors are chasing Mehajer for payments of more than $1 million, including Prime Marble & Granite, the company behind the staircase in his multimillion-dollar Lidcombe home.
The former deputy mayor is currently awaiting sentencing after he was found guilty of electoral fraud in April.
Earlier this year he spent two months behind bars over charges he attempted to pervert the course of justice and conspired to cheat or defraud for allegedly staging a car crash that prevented him from attending an assault trial last year.
He will stand trial on those charges next year.