Salim Mehajer will still fight electoral fraud charges as his sister Fatima pleads guilty

FORMER Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer is continuing to fight charges of electoral fraud as his sister Fatima today pleaded guilty to related offences.

Salim Mehajer's sister Fatima Elkheir arrives at court today pushing a pram, with an unidentified man by her side. Picture: David Swift

FORMER Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer is continuing to fight charges of electoral fraud as his sister today pleaded guilty to related offences.

Fatima Mehajer could spend up to 12 months behind bars after pleading guilty to 77 charges of providing false and misleading information on Australian Electoral Commission enrolments in the lead up to the 2012 Auburn Council elections in an attempt by the siblings to rig the election and gain seats on the council.

Arriving at the Downing Centre today Fatima Mehajer, accompanied by an unknown man, appeared only briefly before the court sitting quietly cradling her baby daughter.

Salim Mehajer has plead not guilty to electoral fraud charges. Picture: David Swift

Her lawyer, Hament Dhanji SC, told Magistrate Beverly Schurr a deal had been cut with his client agreeing to plead guilty to providing false or misleading information to the Electoral Commission with the remaining 51 charges of knowingly using false documents to influence a public official dropped.

Magistrate Schurr excused Fatima to reappear before the court on June 26 as the first day of proceedings against her brother began.

Salim Mehajer is fighting more than more than 70 charges of forging AEC enrolments and fabricating a number of addresses­ for friends and family, claiming they resided in Auburn making them eligible to vote.

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Federal prosecutor Jeremy Rapke QC told the court on July 30, 2012, the day the electoral rolls closed, there was an unusually high number of online applications made.

Of the 76 applications containing false addresses, 51 were forgeries, with voters later telling Australian Electoral Commission officials they were not responsible for lodging the forms.

Mr Rapke said police found texts messages between the siblings and found “saved images of receipt numbers” for electoral roll forms on Fatima Mehajer’s computer which detailed their attempts to falsify forms and boost their votes.

Fatima Mehajer leaves court today after pleading guilty of fraud-related offence. Picture: John Grainger

“On July 20, 212 there is a long series of texts between the defendant and his sister Fatima using the mobile number (number withheld) containing details of arrangements where they are collecting details from candidates for signing on the enrolment forms,” Mr Rapke said.

“This makes it clear they were communicating before the election to bolster their votes at the election.”

Mr Rapke said all the online applications made could be traced back to two IP addresses connected to a Mehajer business and the family home.

Mr Rapke said the siblings set up two groups of candidates to run at the 2012 election, one in each of Auburn Council’s two wards, with each of them running as the lead candidate for each group giving them a greater chance of being elected.

Salim Mehajer was elected to Auburn Council in September 2012 after receiving just 1366 preference votes, less than 10 per cent of the formal vote while Fatima was not elected.

Expert witnesses from the NSW Electoral Commission and the Australian Electoral Commission were called yesterday and all testified that the forms presented by the prosecution had raised “flags” within the enrolment system.

Committing electoral fraud through the forging documents is a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The hearing continues.