ICAC uncovers text messages in TfNSW kickback scandal
On Thursday the inquest was shown a photo taken of envelopes containing bundles of cash lying on the bedspread at Helmy’s home. The amount of money inside each envelope was scrawled on the front.
Messages between Helmy and Le presented to the investigation also highlighted their preference for cash payments and their dislike of receiving kickbacks from contractors in the form of $1,000 Mastercard gift cards and direct wire transfers.
Photo of the envelopes containing cash that İbrahim Helmy sent to his friend Adam Taki in 2015.Credit: ICAC
According to Le, Spilsted’s gift card idea was “ridiculous.” “I hate this. But if that’s the only option other than cash. Then that’s the next best option. But I hate it,” he wrote.
After learning that gift cards had expiration dates, Helmy agreed with Le and similarly complained about the “useless” payment method.
The investigation, held early on Friday, heard Helmy shared confidential pricing information of 32 rival companies with Spilsted in September 2018 so Direct Traffic could adjust the rates on its tender to have a better chance of getting the job.
However, Helmy denied Ranken’s claims that he had initiated the “improper arrangements” and maintained that Spilsted had initiated them.
“He was asking a lot of questions and all I was doing was answering and finding solutions to his questions. I was actually helping him, whether he got results from that is another matter,” Helmy told the inquest.
But he acknowledged that he “may have provided a little more help than I should have.”
Helmy also denied advising Direct Traffic to send fake addresses of caravan parks under the guise of legitimate business warehouses so that the caravan parks would be more likely to win tenders in those areas.
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“I never mentioned caravan parks, I probably didn’t even know what a caravan park was at the time,” Helmy told the inquest.
“I certainly didn’t direct him to put more than one. [fake] addresses.”
After being on the run for four months, US-born Helmy was discovered and detained by detectives hiding in a cupboard in a unit block at Lakemba, south-west Sydney, on 26 September; He remained unseen in the ICAC investigation.
Before the public inquiry, ICAC investigators seized gold bars and bars and $12,317 in cash from his home in Merrylands, as well as a Maserati held by him, $413,000 worth of cryptocurrency and the equivalent of $8 million in cryptocurrency held in a Binance account in his sister’s name.
The public inquiry into the kickbacks is part of the ICAC investigation known as Operation Wyvern and is the fourth investigation into corruption in procurement processes at Transport for NSW since 2019. The hearings are planned to continue until the end of the month.
Helmy will appear again on Wednesday.
with Matt O’Sullivan
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