ACT Supreme Court jails Mohammed Al-Mofathel for drug trafficking, money laundering
Mohammed Al-Mofathel lived a life of luxury, but an unglamorous discovery in a bin heralded the start of his downfall.
Canberra Star
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A piece of chewing gum helped put police on the trail of a Lamborghini-driving drug dealer, whose life of luxury was disrupted when detectives unravelled a “bullshit” scheme designed to disguise his dodgy dealings.
Mohammed Al-Mofathel, 31, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday to seven years and four months in jail.
Justice David Mossop ordered him to serve a minimum of four years and five months before becoming eligible for parole.
Al-Mofathel, a resident of Holt in the ACT, had previously pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, procuring perjury, making false evidence, being knowingly concerned in general dishonesty, and contravening an order made by a magistrate.
Court documents outline how Al-Mofathel lived a life of luxury, losing large amounts of cash at Casino Canberra and driving around in high-end cars despite collecting a disability support pension and failing to lodge a tax return for six years.
But it was an unglamorous piece of gum that heralded the beginning of his downfall.
An agreed statement of facts describes how police raided a cannabis “growhouse” in the Canberra suburb of Macgregor in December 2013, seizing 123 plants.
Officers forensically examined a piece of chewed gum that was located in a kitchen bin, finding Al-Mofathel’s DNA on it.
Police subsequently began intercepting Al-Mofathel’s phone calls as part of an elaborate investigation that spanned several years and ultimately revealed a litany of offences.
On Monday, Justice Mossop said these crimes included laundering between $520,228 and $525,228 in proceeds of illegal cannabis trafficking between March 2016 and August 2021.
More than $350,000 of this dirty cash was cleaned through one of Canberra’s most exclusive restaurants, Courgette, with the help of acclaimed chef James Daniel Mussillon.
Mussillon, 52, pretended to employ Al-Mofathel as an operations manager at Courgette when he was in fact simply taking the 31-year-old’s drug money and paying it back to him under the guise of “wages”.
The renowned restaurateur tried to cover his tracks by producing what he described as “bullshit payslips”.
In addition to uncovering this ruse, police also caught Al-Mofathel red-handed with 21.5kg of cannabis on July 4, 2021.
Police, who had been tracking Al-Mofathel, pulled him over and found five vacuum-sealed bags containing the drug in the tray of his Ford Ranger utility.
Al-Mofathel’s other offences included him directing Mussillon to work with another Canberra restaurateur, Wing Hei Leung, 42, to create a false loan agreement.
The false document was later presented to a police officer as part of a failed attempt to recover proceeds of crime that had been seized from Leung’s home in March 2021.
Al-Mofathel and Mussillon did not only seek to mislead police.
In June 2020, when Al-Mofathel was in custody on an unrelated charge, the drug dealer procured Mussillon to commit perjury as part of a bail application.
Justice Mossop said a magistrate had agreed to grant Al-Mofathel bail after hearing sworn evidence from Mussillon, who told a series of lies.
These included that Mussillon employed Al-Mofathel at Courgette, and that he sometimes allowed the 31-year-old to drive his Lamborghini.
Justice Mossop said while Mussillon was the registered owner of the luxury car, the vehicle really belonged to Al-Mofathel and “the legal arrangements disguised the true owner”.
Mussillon and Al-Mofathel were ultimately arrested in August 2021, when police restrained more than $1 million worth of assets that included the white Lamborghini coupe.
Al-Mofathel contravened a court order after his arrest by refusing to give police the passcodes for two mobile phones.
He has been behind bars ever since.
In sentencing, Justice Mossop said Al-Mofathel was generally more culpable than Mussillon.
While Mussillon was the person who had lied to police and a magistrate, Justice Mossop said it was Al-Mofathel who had directed and benefited from this “brazen” dishonesty.
With time already served on remand, Al-Mofathel will become eligible for parole in January 2026.
Mussillon was previously sentenced to three years and 11 months in jail for offences that included money laundering and perjury.
The chef served 12 months behind bars before the balance of the sentence was suspended, allowing him to return to his restaurant.
Leung, who pleaded guilty to charges of general dishonesty and dealing with the proceeds of crime, received a 12-month intensive correction order in 2023.
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