Damian Obeid tells Icac how his mother got $1000 a week from cafe takings

'We actually borrowed against her house to purchase the shops ... so we agreed she should be entitled to a housekeeping fee'
  • theguardian.com,
Damian Obeid
Witness Damian Obeid arrives at the Icac hearing in Sydney on Wednesday. Photograph: Jane Dempster/AAP

Former NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid and his wife received bundles of cash from three Sydney properties in which his family had hidden interests, a corruption inquiry has heard.

Obeid's eldest son Damian was giving evidence at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac).

The watchdog is investigating allegations that Eddie Obeid lobbied several state ministers to have leases renewed on government land where the Obeids owned two restaurants and a cafe, without going to tender after their expiration in August 2005.

The inquiry heard Eddie Obeid’s wife was for several years paid a "housekeeping fee" of $1000 a week from takings at the cafe and restaurants.

"We actually borrowed against her house to purchase the shops ... so we agreed she should be entitled to a housekeeping fee," Damian Obeid told the inquiry.

Obeid was then asked if he knew whether his father was regularly paid with takings from Circular Quay.

"I can't recall my father ever actually directly receiving anything," he said.

But counsel assisting the inquiry, Ian Temby, said an Obeid business associate, Paul Maroon, had earlier told the inquiry Eddie Obeid did receive payments.

"He said that every week there was $1000 in cash bundled up and provided through one of the brothers to your mother," Temby said.

"And he has said ... that for a shorter period, but not just a few weeks, there was in like manner $1000 in cash bundled up provided for your father."

Damian Obeid said he could not recall this and that Maroon was "mixed up between Mum and Dad".

He was also questioned about the structure through which the Obeids controlled the Circular Quay properties.

The restaurants and cafe were owned by a company which was owned by an Obeid family trust.

Damian Obeid said his uncle, John Aboud, ran the Circular Quay enterprises and was "the face of the business".

"Your family was, I suggest, hidden from view," Temby said.

"Possibly," Damian Obeid replied.

He said the family felt like targets after Eddie Obeid won a defamation action against the ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald.

"We did that just to protect ourselves from media scrutiny," he said.

He denied that part of the intention was "to hide from view the fact that [Eddie Obeid], a member of parliament, had, through his family, extensive and expanding business interests."

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