Dead Cecilia Haddad’s family fight over her estate
THE ex-husband of Brazilian mining executive Cecilia Haddad, whose body was found in the Lane Cove River in April, and her father are locked in court action over her estate, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
NSW
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THE ex-husband of Brazilian mining executive Cecilia Haddad, whose body was found in the Lane Cove River in April, and her father are locked in court action over her estate, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Ms Haddad’s Brazil-based father, Jose Ibrahim Haddad, was last month granted “Special Letters of Administration” in the NSW Supreme Court to have an administrator appointed to protect his beloved daughter’s estate and to search for a possible will.
Then on June 29, her ex-husband, Felipe Torres, who had flown from Perth to identify her body in April, also made an application to the court claiming “an interest in her estate”, court documents show. Neither men are suspected of any involvement in the woman’s death.
Justice Geoff Lindsay today joined Mr Torres, who married Ms Haddad after they met while both working for BHP Billiton in Western Australia, as the defendant in the case and Mr Haddad’s lawyer, Maria Talacko, as the applicant.
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The judge ordered that both sides “use her or his best endeavours to ensure that both parties are kept fully informed in relation to matters concerning administration” of Ms Haddad’s estate.
The case comes as NSW Police have secured a warrant for the arrest of Ms Haddad’s former lover, Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, who it is alleged fled home to Rio de Janeiro the day her body was found by kayakers.
Negotiations are taking place about extraditing Mr Santoro after police asked the federal Attorney-General’s Department to seek help from Brazilian authorities with the investigation.
The court last month gave Ms Talacko, on behalf of Jose Haddad, permission to access the rented Ryde unit where she lived with Santoro until two weeks before she died.
Ms Talacko was granted permission to “receive, maintain, collect and preserve” Ms Haddad’s assets including her distinctive red Fiat which police believe Santoro dumped at West Ryde train station before fleeing to Brazil the day her body was found.
Police have declared the unit and the car as among a number of crime scenes.
Justice Lindsay has granted Ms Talacko permission to make inquiries about whether Ms Haddad left a will, to terminate the lease of her property and operate a bank account “for the purpose of receiving and paying moneys on behalf of the estate”.
He said today that the court had made orders designed to ensure “an orderly administration of the estate”.
Jose Haddad, who is based in Rio de Janeiro, began the complex process or organising her estate on June 6.
The case has been adjourned until July 16.
