Property developer Salim Mehajer’s hints at new career on Mediterranean trip

FROM announcing he’s leaving Australia, to hinting at a new career and his welcome to Lebanon — Salim Mehajer loves a cryptic Instagram post.

FROM announcing he is leaving Australia, to hinting at a new career or even his warm welcome to Lebanon — Salim Mehajer loves a cryptic Instagram post.

And in his latest one, the former deputy mayor of Auburn has hinted at a career change when he returns to Australia.

In one image, posted to Instagram from the “Law School of Athens”, Mr Mehajer dons the traditional powdered wig of the judiciary declaring, in his ever enigmatic way, “I think I will take on the challenge”.

But rival lawyers shouldn’t fret just yet, the flamboyant — and controversial — former deputy mayor has some way to go yet if he really does want to be admitted to the bar.

Certainly he has experience in the dock. Just weeks ago, Mr Mehajer lost his bid to overturn an apprehended violence order against him, with the judge slamming him for trying to make out he was a “mild-mannered choirboy”.

Judge Paul Conlon said it was clear he had threatened personal trainer Bruce Herat outside a Sydney gym. The judge also admonished Mr Mehajer for texting in court as he read out the judgment.

But the one time councillor for Auburn, in Sydney’s west, has become known as “non-stick Salim” because, more often than not, he comes away from court smiling.

Away from the courtroom, Mr Mehajer loves to keep his followers on Instagram guessing.

In September, Mr Mehajer said he was leaving Australia — some speculated for good.

Under a picture of a boat sitting in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the words, “Goodbye Australia” superimposed across the sky, Mr Mehajer told his nearly 300,000 followers of his intentions to depart.

“Will be taking off to pursue my dream challenges,” he wrote. “I’ll be back.”

The mysterious post made no further revelations as to his plans, and was later removed, but his Instagram posts show him in the midst of a tour around the Mediterranean including Lebanon and Greece.

Earlier, on his arrival in Greece, Mr Mehajer humbly snapped a picture at the airport, looking tired, surrounded by his luggage. His Louis Vuitton luggage.

Over the past week, Mr Mehajer has also posted images from Lebanon, where his parents hail from.

It’s appears to have received a rapturous welcome with one photo showing a banner draped from a Beirut apartment with a picture of the mogul, the Australian flag and the greeting “Welcome to Lebanon”. Who put the banner up is not detailed by Mr Mehajer.

Mr Mehajer also hasn’t revealed to news.com.au what his travel plans are but he was snapped outside an architectural firm’s offices in the Lebanese capital. Perhaps an expansion of his business from western Sydney to the eastern Mediterranean could be on the cards?

He has close links to Lebanon. His father Mohamad emigrated to Australia from Lebanon in the 1980s with wife Amal, the couple settling in Sydney.

In July, it was alleged in The Australian newspaper that Mr Mehajer and his father had transferred $20 million from Australia to the country.

While Mr Mehajer has been gallivanting around the Med, his estranged wife Aysha Learmonth has been far closer to home posting pictures from the Illawarra region of NSW, close to her family’s house in Wollongong.

In a post to her Instagram account this week, Ms Learmonth — who stopped using the Mehajer surname several months ago — was seen at the Ravensthorpe historic manor house in Albion Park.

Taking a twirl beneath the property’s rotunda, she looked like her marriage blues were very much behind her.

Originally published as Property developer Salim Mehajer’s hints at new career on Mediterranean trip