The Snitch: Tarek Zahed worth little on paper but kids cashed up

On paper gunned down Comanchero Tarek Zahed is not worth much money, but it was a different story for his two children aged under 10.

Like many of his peers in the bikie fraternity, gunned down Comanchero Tarek Zahed is not worth much on paper – but his young kids were loaded at one point.

In fact, according to documents from one of his court cases, his newborn son’s bank account had $287,000 in “incomings” between 2016 and 2018, while his eight-year-old daughter’s account had $726,000 come into her account.

With Zahed being shot this week in what appears to be a gangland hit, it sent us back into the court archives to learn a bit more about the 41-year-old who was in line to become the next Comanchero national president.

Truth be known, for all the fanfare and publicity he gets for being the bikie who gets around in high-priced designer clobber, there is not much on Zahed’s record.

Tarek Zahed’s children’s bank accounts were flush with cash. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

One of the entries came in 2020 when Zahed was jailed for one year and four months over a $191,000 money-laundering operation.

What was never reported at the time was the financial records tendered in the case that showed Zahed’s children were apparently flush with cash.

Zahed was charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime over the money that went into his kids’ accounts between January 28, 2016, and December 31, 2018.

Court documents from the case said: “An account in the name of his daughter had incomings of $726,922.87 and outgoings of $853,950.36 in that period.”

The outgoings from the account “included seven cash withdrawals totalling $617,530”.

Then there was his newborn son’s account.

That one had incomings of $287,504.71 and outgoings of $273,218.40.

That’s some Dollarmite account.

FUNERAL FURORE

Still on Zahed, prison insiders weren’t too happy to hear the comments made by NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman on Thursday.

Justice Rothman rejected the bail application made by Zahed’s surviving brother Abdul who wanted to be released so he could attend the funeral of their other sibling Omar, who was shot dead on Tuesday night.

Omar Zahed was buried at Rookwood cemetery on Friday. Picture John Grainger

Justice Rothman rejected Abdul’s application for several reasons and noted that he did not live in an “ivory tower” where he couldn’t recognise there would be a risk of Abdul carrying out a revenge attack.

But the judge also told the court: “I would urge Corrective Services to allow (Abdul) to attend his brother’s funeral under supervision.”

This did not sit well with Correctives staff.

“So (Justice Rothman) keeps this guy in jail because he’s that much of a danger to the community but he’d be happy for Correctives to walk this bloke into a funeral where they could be targeted,” one insider said. “Talk about an ivory tower.”

GUESS WHO

Guess which Australian judicial officer once stabbed their love interest.

Snitch won’t tell you who they are – or if they are still sitting or retired – to remove our risk of being sued for defamation. But it happened some years ago and the alleged perpetrator, who was not a serving judicial officer at the time, was never charged.

It obviously wasn’t a career killing move because the perpetrator ended up being appointed.

ICAC VACANCY

There’s set to be a bit of jostling for one of the most prized jobs in the legal world.

The three top jobs at the Independent Commission Against Corruption are now being advertised – and the gigs pay serious money.

ICAC Chief Commissioner Peter Hall. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Chief Commissioner Peter Hall earns in the vicinity of $700,000 a year and his term ends in August.

The other two part-time commissioner jobs, occupied by Patricia McDonald SC and Stephen Rushton SC, are also ending at the same time.

The rules of ICAC differ to courts in that they heavily favour the prosecution role with critics of the commission often complaining it is akin to an ambush.

In 2015, video emerged of ex-commissioner Megan Latham SC famously saying that examining ICAC witnesses was like “pulling the wings off butterflies”.

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