Tarek Elgayar: former army major avoids custody over fraud charges

A former army major who served in Afghanistan spent more than $44,000 in unauthorised payments on his government-issued card - including luxury hotel stays and airline tickets for his girlfriend.

A former army major fleeced more than $44,000 from the Department of Defence using his government-issued credit card for personal expenses including luxury hotels stays and airline and domestic travel.

Tarek Elgayar, 47, earlier pleaded guilty to one count of doing anything with the intention of dishonestly causing a loss to a commonwealth entity and one count of using a false document with the intention of dishonestly inducing a commonwealth public official to accept it as genuine and dishonestly influencing the exercise of a public duty or function.

In ACT Magistrates Court on Monday for sentencing, Elgayar’s lawyer, Jacob Robertson, told the court his client’s offending was directly linked with his mental health issues and urged magistrate Glenn Theakston to avoid a custodial sentence.

Former army major Tarek Elgayar (right) arrives at the ACT Law Courts for sentencing with lawyer Jacob Robertson from JDR Law. Picture: Julia Kanapathippillai

Mr Robertson told the court his client was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and alcohol abuse disorder.

He said at the time of offending his client’s judgment was impaired, he was self medicating with alcohol, going through divorce proceedings with his ex-wife and was separated from his three children.

The court heard Elgayar had been a defence member between 1991 to 2019, where was deployed to East Timor and Afghanistan, and lost his employment due to his court case.

Commonwealth prosecutor Cecilia Pascoe told the court a jail sentence was necessary and described Elgayar’s offending as “substantial and deliberate over eight and a half months”

“The Australian public service and defence depend on integrity,” she said.

“This is a significant breach of trust.”

Ms Pascoe agreed mental health was a factor behind Elgayar’s offending yet she said it was not causative to his offending.

“Mental health (issues) can’t be a licence to commit crime.”

Tarek Elgayar used his company card for unauthorised personal expenses including a stay at The Hilton in Sydney. Picture: Hilton Sydney

According to the agreed statement of facts tendered to the court, between December 8, 2017, and August 27, 2018, Elgayar made 99 unauthorised transactions resulting in a $44,127.22 loss to the Commonwealth.

Notable transactions included a $419 dollar stay at the Hilton in Sydney, and an airline ticket for his partner.

The statement of facts also said October 3, 2018, Elgayar provided nine false documents to his supervisor to explain his expenses.

On February 28, 2020, Elgayar re-paid the department of defence $119,225.27 for his misuse of his Commonwealth card between June 2016 and October 2018.

The statement of facts notes his repayment included $75,098.05 which is unrelated to these charges.

Magistrate Theakston noted the defendant pleaded guilty relatively early, had lost his job due to his offending, and had made genuine efforts to engage with mental health services.

Mr Theakston sentenced Elgayar to an eight-month suspended sentence.

He is ordered to pay a $200 for security be of good behaviour for 18 months and will be subject to supervision for 12 months.

Mr Theakston also ordered Elgayar to not travel interstate or overseas without permission from his corrections supervisor but noted the defendant would be able to return to NSW.