Hassan Hallak, Masood Zakaria in court over alleged witness tampering
An extraordinary case has seen a criminal lawyer placed before the courts. Sharp suited solicitor Hassan Hallak is accused of perverting the course of justice in a case police say “strikes at the heart” of the justice system.
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A Sydney criminal lawyer accused of inserting himself in a case involving two members of an infamous crime family has fronted court.
Solicitor Hassan Hallak is accused by police of perverting the course of justice with a man cleared of a role in one of Sydney’s most notorious crimes over their alleged involvement with a witness in a separate bashing case.
Hallak, donning black shades, appeared briefly at the Parramatta Local Court for charge certification on Thursday with his lawyer Mohommed Bazzi.
The case against him and co-accused Masood Zakaria centres around two members of the Alameddine crime family – Hamdi and Rafat – who were accused of assaulting and robbing an Uber driver in Merrylands last November.
Hallak has previously represented members of the Alameddine family in court and will plead not guilty and fight the charges if they are not withdrawn by police.
His most notable Alameddine client was Talal, who was convicted of supplying a gun used in the killing of police accountant Curtis Cheng.
Detectives have named Hallak’s co-accused Zakaria as allegedly being a member of the “Alameddine organised crime network”.
In 2016 he made headlines when he was charged for supplying the gun used to murder Mr Cheng in cold blood.
Zakaria was acquitted in a judge alone trial in 2018.
Police allege Zakaria approached the driver and confronted him about the incident as a friend of the Alameddines before introducing him to solicitor Hallak, who was wearing a sharp suit at Fairfield Court, according to documents.
The driver was supposed to be at an appointment with police to identify his attackers, it is alleged.
“Do you know the two guys that have been charged?” Hallak allegedly asked the driver, according to court documents.
“I know them from the pictures (that Zakaria had showed him). I don’t think these two are the ones. I need to go to the police,” he allegedly responded.
When police called the victim after he missed his appointment with them, Hallak allegedly took the phone and said he was the man’s lawyer.
“We are here because the two males you have in custody did not assault my client and he is going to retract his statement in court,” police allege Hallak told them.
According to the police version of events Hallak told the officer the driver had come into his office wanting legal advice because he’d spotted a man on the police “photo board” who he was concerned had been wrongly arrested over the assault.
“How does he know who we have in custody?” the police officer allegedly responded, saying the driver had picked one image incorrectly and was expected to return for a second meeting.
According to the police document Hallak “lied during this phone call as to how he came to meet with the victim as he knew his conduct was illegal and highly unethical”.
Investigators allege the pair’s involvement was an attempt to clear the Alameddines and “strikes at the heart” of the justice system.
Hallak and Zakaria’s cases were both adjourned and will return to the same court later this year for committal to the District Court.
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