Bob Hawke’s friend and former business partner Safwat Abdel-Hady fighting deportation after visa cancelled

Bob Hawke’s former business partner is fighting to stay in Australia following Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s decision cancel his visa on character grounds, after his estranged wife took out an AVO against him.

Exclusive: Bob Hawke’s former business partner and long-time friend, Safwat Abdel-Hady, is fighting deportation from Australia after his visa was cancelled on character grounds by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

The Austrian national and high-flying businessman with links to some of the Middle East’s Royal Families, is taking his fight to the High Court arguing his deportation is unfair and will separate him from his seven-year-old Australian daughter and affect her future development.

Mr Abdel-Hady, who is being held in immigration detention, has won the right to argue his case before the full-court of the High Court on Friday, April 12, after an appeal to the Federal Court last year failed.

The 58-year-old businessman rose to prominence in Australia on the back of his international business contacts, his business partnership with the former Prime Minister, and his connections with Middle Eastern governments, and oil sheiks.

Safwat Abdel-Hady, Bob Hawke’s former business partner and long-time friend. Picture: Supplied

Mr Abdel-Hady was known around town as social, likeable and generous. He was often found entertaining clients and visitors at some of Sydney’s best restaurants.

He and Bob Hawke joined forces in two business ventures Australian Gulf Mineral Resources Corporation and International Fuel Corporation.

Mr Abdel-Hady first visited Australia in 1997 on a tourist visa. He returned in 2002 on a business visa as the CEO of Scorpion International Australia’s aviation division, which was involved in aerial firefighting and defence acquisition management.

Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his wife Blanche d'Alpuget. Mr Hawke and his friend Mr Abdel-Hady joined forces in two business ventures. Picture: Getty

While he was in Australia, Mr Abdel-Hady set up Montana Pacific Investments a privately-funded company to further business interests in the Middle East and around the world. Mr Abdel-Hady said at the time he had already had a 20-year career in which he had oversighted business deals involving aviation, energy and oil and gas deals.

In 2011, he married an Australian woman in a private ceremony at the four-storey Northbridge mansion of Bob Hawke and his wife Blanche D’Alpuchet with Mr Hawke acting as his best man. Their daughter was born in 2012.

In the past two decades Mr Abdel-Hady has organised trade missions for Australians doing business in the Middle East and helping behind the scenes in the release of Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor who was detained in Libya while on mission for the International Criminal Court.

Safwat Abdel-Hady’s visa was cancelled on character grounds by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture: Supplied

He also helped to set up the Australia Lebanon Chamber of Commerce (ALCC) promoting trade between Australia and Lebanon.

ALCC President Faddy Zouky called him a “trustworthy” and extraordinary man who had made his life in Australia and is an asset to the country.

Mr Abdul Hady’s visa was cancelled in 2017 after his now estranged wife took out an AVO against him.

He previously had a conviction quashed and charges dropped over an incident in which he was accused of drugging a couple he met at a bar in Kings Cross. In a case that was described by the Judge as “unusual” the DPP dropped the charges in exchange for Mr Abdel-Hady Hardy pleading guilty to a lesser charge.

Mr Abdel-Hady’s lawyer Mona Youssef from Harper James Law said Mr Abdel-Hady should be afforded the basic human right of being able to stay in Australia where he has made his home and to build his relationship with his daughter.

Originally published as Bob Hawke’s friend and former business partner Safwat Abdel-Hady fighting deportation after visa cancelled