Fadi Ibrahim’s $700k bail reduction, can holiday abroad after court win

Sydney identity Fadi Ibrahim has won a massive monetary bail reduction and can travel overseas under new bail conditions, despite facing sentence in just a few months.

Sydney identity Fadi Ibrahim will have hundreds of thousands of dollars returned to him by the courts and will be able to travel overseas after his bail conditions were relaxed just months before he faces sentence.

Fadi, in late September, pleaded guilty to possessing money reasonably suspected to be the proceeds of crime worth more than $100,000 days before he was expected to face trial.

The plea brought a five-year legal saga to an end that began when Fadi was arrested alongside his brother, Michael, in Dubai in August 2017.

The Ibrahims were arrested as part of Operation Veyda — a series of sweeping raids carried out by the Australian Federal Police designed to bring down syndicates involved in drug importation, dealing and money laundering.

The 48-year-old Fadi, the courts have heard, was accused of receiving money from his brother, Michael, that came from illegal tobacco importation.

Fadi arriving at the Downing Centre Court in Sydney in early 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The charge states that Fadi did not know the money was connected to an illegal activity.

He was never accused of any crimes involving illicit drugs.

Fadi’s lawyer, Abbas Soukie, faced the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday asking for his client’s strict bail conditions to be lifted.

Mr Soukie and police prosecutors agreed to have some of the conditions lifted or lightened.

Chief among them was the $1.25 million dollar guarantee Fadi had offered up to reassure authorities he would show up to court hearings.

Judge Warwick Hunt noted the bail had been reduced to $500,000 meaning the additional $725,000 would be released back to Fadi or the “acceptable person” that had offered it up.

Fadi Ibrahim’s high profile lawyer, Abbas Soukie.

The new bail conditions also allow Fadi to travel overseas as long as he provides an itinerary to the AFP, the court heard.

“The applicant is to provide a full itinerary, including details of all flights, accommodation and all people travelling with him, to the AFP notification by email no later than 7 days prior to the nominated date of his departure,” the new bail conditions read.

But Fadi will not be able to travel overseas in the final month before he is sentenced – currently set down for 28 February 2023, the court heard.

The charge, to which Fadi pleaded guilty, carries a maximum of three years in prison.

Michael Ibrahim at Sydney Airport on his way to Dubai in 2017, in an image released by Operation Veyda investigators.

Mr Soukie told The Daily Telegraph the bail change reflected Fadi was now pleading guilty to a substantially less serious offence than the charges with which he was originally charged.

The Commonwealth withdrew that original charge, which carried a maximum 25 years had Fadi been found guilty, in exchange for a guilty plea to the lesser charge.

The lawyer also said there had been “misreporting” that Fadi was involved in drug or tobacco related transactions and he was instructed to “correct the record” for his client.

“To be abundantly clear, Mr Ibrahim was not involved in either the drug or tobacco transactions,” Mr Soukie said.

“Mr Ibrahim’s criminality was that he received $599,700 from his brother, Michael Ibrahim, upon which there are reasonable grounds to suspect that those monies were the proceeds of crime.”

“The prosecution does not argue that Mr Ibrahim had knowledge, was reckless or was negligent as to the source of the monies.”

His brother, Michael, was handed 25 years in prison for his role in an MDMA syndicate and remains behind bars.

Almost 20 Australians were charged as part of Operation Veyda and almost two tonnes of narcotics were intercepted before they could reach Australian streets, the AFP said in the wake of the arrests.