The alleged mastermind of a multimillion-dollar kickback scandal, who had been on the run from police for months, is finally set to be grilled on Tuesday morning at an anti-corruption inquiry.
Dressed in greens and unshaven, the now sacked Transport for NSW officer Ibrahim Helmy was driven in an unmarked Corrective Services four-wheel drive vehicle into the basement car park of the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s building in Sydney on Tuesday.
Helmy, who was handcuffed, was escorted by Corrective Services officers into a side room ahead of the hearing starting at 10am.
After four months on the run from police, Helmy was arrested on September 26 at a unit block in Lakemba in south-western Sydney, and detained until his appearance at the ICAC inquiry, which has now resumed after a six-week break.
The ICAC is investigating allegations that Helmy was the mastermind behind corrupt relationships with nine companies that were paid at least $343 million in contracts by Transport for NSW in return for kickbacks.
Ibrahim Helmy is delivered to the hearing by Corrective Service officers.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Helmy, 38, is accused of pocketing $11.5 million in kickbacks – including bundles of cash, gold bullion and cryptocurrency – from the contractors in return for them being awarded work on the state’s roads.
In September last year, the NSW Crime Commission seized gold bullion bars and nuggets and $12,317 in cash from Helmy’s Merrylands home, as well as a Maserati, $413,000 worth of cryptocurrency held by him, and the equivalent of $8 million in cryptocurrency in a Binance account in the name of his sister.
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