Mohammad Sallam, Noura Bader and Jugurtha Zafrane sentenced to jail time for $5m NDIA, ATO rip-off

A husband and wife team, along with a French national, have been ordered to pay compensation they were jailed for their involvement in a sophisticated Commonwealth fraud case.

Three members of a sophisticated Western Sydney fraud syndicate that fleeced more than $5 million from the federal government have been sentenced to jail time and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.

Husband and wife Mohammad Ali Mahmoud Sallam and Noura Bader, along with French national Jugurtha Zafrane, fronted the NSW District Court in Sydney on Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to dishonestly obtain a gain from the Commonwealth.

The court heard Sallam, who prosecutors claimed played a starring role in the syndicate, deliberately defrauded the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Australian Taxation Office for more than three years until his arrest in April 2021.

It was alleged he used forged medical documents, fake businesses and dodgy BAS reports to help the syndicate secure more than $5m in taxpayers funds.

Bader, who claimed her marriage to Sallam had been abusive and she had been acting at his direction, assisted her husband in the NDIS fraud but was not involved in scamming the ATO, the court heard.

Zafrane, who was recruited by Sallam, played a pivotal role in the ATO fraud but had no involvement in the NDIS scam.

Judge Warwick Hunt noted the case was complex and involved multi-layered fraudulent activity over an extended period of time.

He sentenced Sallam to at least four years behind bars and ordered he pay $328,042 in reparation to the government.

With time already served, he will be paroled in December 2026.

Bader was sentenced to a minimum of 17 months behind bars and ordered to repay $96,070, while Zafrane was sentenced to 12 months behind bars, at which time he will be released on a three-year recognisance bond. He was ordered to pay $150,783.76 to the government.

In outlining the cases against the trio, Judge Hunt said Sallam and Bader had used forged medical documents to falsely enrol almost 40 people in the NDIS scheme through their company Able Community Care Pty Ltd.

AFP Superintendent Kristie Cressy. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The duo then made scores of claims for services that the individuals were not entitled to receive and had never been provided.

He said the ATO conspiracy involved the lodgement of BAS on behalf of various businesses falsely claiming to have provided disability services, which then entitled them to GST refunds.

“Both of those are offences against the public revenue,” Judge Hunt said.

“They clearly ought not be seen as victimless crimes because all members of the community suffer as a result of impositions unlawfully made on the public purse.

“This kind of offending is prevalent, easy to commit, difficult to detect and comes … at a great cost to the community.”

Judge Hunt accepted that each of the offenders was remorseful for their actions but noted each participant had been motivated by financial gain.

The court heard Sallam had benefited “substantially” from the scams, using the proceeds to purchase more than half a kilogram of gold and 40 kgs of silver, as well as funnelling a large amount of cash into cryptocurrency.

AFP Superintendent Kristie Cressy said the AFP was committed to protecting the integrity of vital support services for those who needed them most.

“The outcome of this investigation sends a strong message to criminals that fraud against the NDIS will not be tolerated,” Supt Cressy said.

“We will continue to work closely alongside our partner agencies to combat fraud and support those who genuinely rely on these services.”

National Disability Insurance Agency boss Rebecca Falkingham said these verdicts reflected the hard work being done across many government agencies to put a stop to the defrauding of the NDIS, and ensuring every NDIS dollar goes towards participant outcomes.

“People with disabilities and their families deserve to be protected from exploitation, and this is just another step in ensuring those expectations are met,” Ms Falkingham said.

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