Controversial Sydney businessman Salim Mehajer has been sentenced to at least 11 months behind bars for electoral fraud with his sister who was spared jail moments earlier.
Before reading out her reasons in the Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, magistrate Beverley Schurr said she would be jailing the 32-year-old for 21 months and ordering him to be released on a good behaviour bond after he serves 11 months.
She previously had found him guilty of 77 charges relating to a joint criminal enterprise with sister Fatima to influence the 2012 Auburn City Council vote.
Fatima Mehajer was handed a two month suspended jail term and put on a $500 nine-month good behaviour bond earlier Friday morning.
She had pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre Local Court to 77 charges of giving false or misleading information.
The sentencing follows an earlier incident where Mehajer’s sister took a tumble as she arrived at a Sydney court.
Salim Mehajer’s sister Fatima was seen taking a fall on her way to court Friday (pictured)
Ms Mehajer appeared to take a stumble in her black and white stilettos at Downing Centre Local Court (pictured) in Sydney
The sister (pictured) of the businessman was sentenced over role in rigging a local election
Ms Mehajer (pictured left and right) was spared jailed and put on a good behaviour bond
Ms Mehajer, dressed in a sheer top, black pantsuit and heels, was seen taking a tumble outside court moments before she and her brother entered the Downing Centre Local Court.
Mehajer had abandoned a bid to have his bankruptcy annulled after a judge slammed the disgraced Sydney businessman for seeking to have the case adjourned ‘at the eleventh hour’.
But the embattled property developer plans to launch a fresh application in the Federal Court, which on Thursday heard he had ‘no assets’ and is refusing to pay lawyers.
The 32-year-old, whose debts include an $8.6 million tax bill, unsuccessfully applied to have the two-day hearing delayed before his local court electoral fraud sentencing.
‘This isn’t a suburban golf club where fixtures are changed at the whim of participants,’ Justice Michael Lee said.
The court heard Mehajer has churned through five legal teams since mid-2017 over the dispute with a previous lawyer claiming he’s owed more than $15,000.
Salim Mehajer (pictured) has abandoned a bid to have his bankruptcy annulled after a judge slammed the disgraced Sydney businessman for seeking to have case adjourned
Ms Mehajer’s (pictured) 32-year-old brother has debts including an $8.6 million tax bill
The woman’s (pictured) brother unsuccessfully applied to have the two-day hearing delayed before his local court electoral fraud sentencing due on Friday
‘Why is it that at the eleventh hour, at one minute to midnight, he is determined to change his legal representatives?’ Justice Lee asked.
‘There’s not a jot or a tittle of evidence in the affidavit as to why steps weren’t taken to fit the timetable.’
Speaking with a croaky voice while giving evidence, Mehajer said his previous lawyer Eidan Havas was sacked because he was ‘incompetent’, but Justice Lee found no basis for such an accusation.
‘It’s very easy to make allegations under absolute privilege … he’s got a right to his reputation,’ the judge said.
Mr Havas later told the court he’d represented Mehajer in 20 different criminal and civil proceedings but was forced to terminate his retainer.
‘I am unfunded. I have been unpaid. Some bills are in excess of $15,000,’ he said.
Ms Mehajer was seen arriving to court in New South Wales for sentencing Friday morning after she was convicted this week for a role in getting her brother elected to Auburn Council in 2012
Ms Mehajer’s (far right) disgraced brother was declared bankrupt in March while in jail
This week police raided eight properties linked to the former Auburn deputy mayor (Ms Mehajer pictured right)
Mehajer was declared bankrupt in March while in jail and this week police raided eight properties linked to the former Auburn deputy mayor.
The move was instigated by his bankruptcy trustee, Paul Weston from Pitcher Partners, who found ‘no assets so far’, his barrister said.
‘Total assets, according to our best knowledge, are in the negative $11.6 million,’ Roger Marshall SC said.
Mehajer was granted bail in early April over claims he staged a car crash last year and defrauded an insurance company.
Mehajer’s sister (pictured) was charged with 77 counts of electoral fraud and was convicted earlier this month where she today was put on a nine-month good behaviour bond
Ms Mehajer is facing a potential jail sentence over the council rigging incident six years ago
The embattled property developer (left and right) plans to launch a fresh application in the Federal Court which on Thursday heard he had ‘no assets’ and is refusing to pay lawyers
He then announced on social media platform Instagram he’d lodged an application to ‘set aside this joke’ claiming ‘only God can bankrupt me’.
It’s understood Mehajer will launch new legal action in an attempt to prove he’s solvent.
He claims he wasn’t trying to stall proceedings by applying for an adjournment and then discontinuing the case.
The court heard Mehajer (pictured) had churned through five legal teams since mid-2017 over the dispute with a previous lawyer claiming he’s owed more than $15,000
Mehajer (pictured Friday morning) was granted bail in early April over claims he staged a car crash last year and defrauded an insurance company
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