Eddie Obeid to keep $30 million made from corrupt coal licence deal
It beggars belief that Eddie Obeid, the former Labor state minister jailed for misconduct in public office, has gotten away with the proceeds of his crime.
The 81-year-old disgraced politician received $30 million from a corrupt coal mine deal and the Herald’s Kate McClymont reports the money has vanished and authorities are powerless to do a thing.
Obeid, his son Moses, 56, and former Labor mining minister Ian Macdonald, 76, were jailed in October 2021 over the deal that netted Obeid $30 million for a coal tenement on top of the family’s farm at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley. He was sentenced to seven years for misconduct in public office in 2021 and is due to be released in August.
Obeid was paid 15 years ago and down through the years as he faced investigations and then jail, the money disappeared without trace – laundered through assets sales and complex family trusts set up in the names of Obeid, his wife Judy and their nine children – and authorities cannot find it.
Now, a second investigation into the viability of recovering what remains of the $30 million by the NSW Crime Commission has concluded that, due to the length of time, the destruction of records and the complexity of the Obeids’ use of myriad trusts and corporations, confiscation proceedings are unviable.
When Obeid was convicted of misconduct in public office in 2021, the commission revisited the 2015 investigation decision not to commence confiscation proceedings after legal advice at the time that “there were no reasonable prospects of success”.
Commissioner Michael Barnes said no new evidence had emerged to support overturning the earlier decision.“There is understandable public anger and a strong appetite to do all that is possible to
pursue this matter. It is hard to think of a more egregious breach of trust by a NSW Minister of the Crown,” Barnes said. “Unfortunately missing financial records, the time that has elapsed since the criminal conduct occurred and the complex web of discretionary trusts used by the Obeid family to mix illegal and legitimate funds, means there was an accumulation of serious legal hurdles to overcome.”
The report said the first investigation in 2015 found against pursuing the money partly in the belief the Australian Taxation Office would absorb any available wealth. It also revealed that the latest decision was taken in the context of its negative impact on the commission’s ability to pursue other priorities with a higher chance of success.
Given the many authorities working on the Obeid matter, including the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the ATO and the NSW Crime Commission, it is passing strange how little thought appears to have been given on working together to recover the funds before they went missing.
There may be one positive outcome, however. A national working group, involving state and federal agencies, is looking at beneficial ownership disclosure obligations, including a Beneficial Trust Register that could hamper the future Obeids of this world.
EDITORIAL Obeid does time but his family benefits from the proceeds of his crime
Eddie Obeid to keep his‘socks and jocks’ along with $30 million
April 24, 2025
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.
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.
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.
