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Revealed: Obeid trust’s secret $30 million stake in metro high-rise
January 24, 2026
A trust fund for disgraced former politician Eddie Obeid’s family has concealed a secret share worth up to $30 million in land the government earmarked for high-rise development next to a new Sydney metro station.
Email chains and confidential documents obtained by the Herald show how the Obeid trust deliberately hid its interest in the development goldmine, which is directly across the road from the new Bankstown metro station, which is due to open this year.
The land, currently home to the dilapidated Bellevue function centre and some leased shops, has been slated by the NSW Department of Planning for a 20-storey residential tower under the state’s transport-oriented development strategy.
The Obeid family trust moved to conceal its interest in the site in May 2018, when the family was facing intense scrutiny over its network of properties and business activities.
Financial documents show the trust fund transferred its 50 per cent stake in a company then named Redpoc Pty Ltd, which owned the site, to colourful businessman Walhan “Wally” Wehbe, an Obeid associate who owns numerous other properties around Bankstown.
It meant that, as far as publicly available records held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show, the Obeids are no longer connected to the company that owns the land.
The catch was that Wehbe held the shares on privately agreed terms, stating that any income would flow into an Obeid family trust, according to legal advice given to representatives of the Obeids and Wehbe.
Documents obtained by the Herald outline the complex but lawful accounting strategy deployed by Obeid family accountant Sid Sassine and tax lawyer Rolf Koops.
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Family accountant Sassine had “accomplished miracles with our accounts where others before him had failed”, according to a testimonial on Sassine’s website from members of the Obeid family, deleted five years before the Redpoc transfer.
The accountant gave evidence at an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing into a corrupt coal deal in 2013, denying he was the family’s “frontman” but agreeing he had worked to keep the Obeid name out of the spotlight.
“My role there is to conceal, yes, to hide the name Obeid from the general public, to avoid the hindrance that they’ve consistently had,” Sassine told the inquiry.
In an email sent at 8.50am on May 31, 2018 with the subject line “URGENT: Redpoc Unit Trust – Changes”, Sassine sought advice from Koops, then a tax partner at law firm Madison Marcus, about transferring the Obeid family’s 50 per cent share in the trust that owned the Bankstown site to Wehbe.
In the event of a transfer “a Deed of Trust will be required, to be held off record, stating that this 50% will always be held for the benefit of Obeid Corp Pty Ltd ATF [as trustee for] Obeid Family Trust No. 1”, Sassine wrote.
“The clients are pushing to have this finalised by this Friday [the following day] please, as matters are now moving very quickly.”
Koops replied at 10.13am: “I have been thinking about this – and I am confident there is an alternative way – which will not trigger any stamp duty consequences – a significant saving and achieve the commercial objectives.
“Essentially the asset ie the units can be split away and held by another trustee eg Wally’s entity – there is no change in ownership – just a change in trustee. For tax and accounting, ownership is the same.”
At 2.16pm, Sassine reiterated to Koops that he should provide a “Deed of Nominee stating that Wally’s entity will be holding the units in Trust for Obeid Family Trust No.1”.
Amendments to the Obeid Family Trust No.1 were recorded as being made on the same day to include Wehbe Investments Pty Ltd as an additional trustee, and the register of the Redpoc Unit Trust was updated to reflect the transfer of the Obeid’s half to Wehbe, according to documents obtained by the Herald.
Obeid Family Trust No.1 was described during an ICAC hearing in 2012 as a “pond of money” where many sources of income from family business interests were pooled and then loaned back to family members.
In a separate email on June 8, Koops wrote to the directors of Obeid Corporation Pty Ltd and Wehbe Investments Pty Ltd confirming that there was no beneficial change in the ownership of the 50 per cent of Redpoc shares transferred from Obeid to Wehbe.
“Any future income or gain accruing to the 50 units is for the account of OFT1 [Obeid Family Trust No.1] and must be dealt with accordingly,” he wrote.
“Wehbe Investments becomes the registered legal holder of the units as a trustee of the OFT1. Unless specifically requested to do so, it is not legally obliged to disclose the existence of the manner in which it holds the units.”
Bellevue site, on the corner of Restwell Street and South Terrace, Bankstown
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When asked about his work for the Obeids and Wehbe, Koops said: “No comment.“
Members of the Obeid family, Wehbe and Sassine did not respond to questions.
The accounting strategy appears to have successfully obscured the Obeid trust’s interest in the development site until now.
In 2022, when consultants appointed by Canterbury-Bankstown Council investigated allegations that then-mayor Khal Asfour was linked to Eddie Obeid and that Obeid stood to benefit from a rezoning of the Bellevue site, the Obeid family trust’s continuing interest in the site was hidden.
The consultant’s report, reviewed and endorsed at the council’s request by barrister Arthur Moses, SC, found “there is no evidence that Mr Eddie Obeid has any ownership associated or interest with the Bellevue venue site”.
The site was selected for high-rise development of up to 65 metres, or about 20 storeys, as part of a rezoning proposal released by the Department of Planning in 2024.
The project has not been subject to a recent formal valuation, but a source with knowledge of the plans said $60 million was a conservative valuation that was in line with other similar developments around Sydney. The Obeids would be lawfully entitled to half of the profits.
The land was designated a “key site” by the NSW Planning Department, along with some neighbouring buildings, “due to its proximity to the train and metro stations and its central location”.
The site has had a chequered history since Eddie Obeid and Wehbe, who already owned the Golden Nights nightclub on Restwell Street next to the Bellevue, bought it for $5.2 million in 1989.
The pair had trouble raising funds to complete the sale, and by 1991, Bankstown Council had commenced legal action to wind up their company over unpaid rates.
A loan of $4.9 million from NAB was secured in 1992 but by 1994, the debt had climbed, and the bank threatened foreclosure.
In September that year, a company called Dakmint approached NAB offering to buy out the function centre’s debt for just over $2.1 million – an offer the bank accepted, writing off $2.5 million.
One of Dakmint’s directors was the editor of the Obeid-owned newspaper El Telegraph, and the company’s phone number was Eddie Obeid’s direct line at Parliament House, the Heraldhas previously reported.
In 1998, Wehbe and Paul Obeid took over the reins at Dakmint, regaining control of the site for Wehbe and the Obeid family.
Wehbe and Eddie Obeid have pursued several other joint ventures, including an attempt to get into the lucrative live sheep trade to Syria, and various property plays around NSW.
In 2004, the pair took a stake in Equitexx, a trust company set up by Sassine, that bought industrial land in Abbotsford for $10.5 million and sold it two years later for $17 million after it had been rezoned residential.
Eddie Obeid, 81, was released from Long Bay prison on parole in August 2025 after serving three years and 10 months behind bars for conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
As a condition of his release on parole, Obeid is barred from engaging in any activity involving the control of money or assets of other people or organisations.
There is no suggestion that Obeid has engaged in any such activity since those parole conditions were recently imposed.
Authorities have repeatedly tried and failed to reclaim the $30 million that Eddie Obeid gained via the corrupt deal, which involved a coal exploration licence at Bylong, north-west of Sydney, for which he was convicted.
The NSW Crime Commission in April said the money had been filtered through a series of discretionary family trusts and mingled with lawfully obtained money, making recovery of the corruptly obtained cash impossible.
Outgoing NSW Crime Commission chief Michael Barnes said at the time: “There is not $30 million sitting in a pot somewhere that we can just go and snaffle.“
