Detective ‘astounded’ IBAC cleared accused fraudster Abeselom Nega of corrupt conduct

An African community leader originally accused by police of a $4 million government fraud has had most of his charges dropped but continues to face court over an alleged $100,000 fraud.

Police tapped the phone of African community leader Abeselom Nega as part of their investigation.

Accused government fraudster Abeselom Nega has had charges dropped following police claims he ran a $4 million scam over funding for refugee programs.

The African community leader had faced 26 charges, including for obtaining $4.2 million by deception to run Victorian programs for disenfranchised young people and refugees over a decade.

But the Herald Sun has confirmed that seven charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception have been dismissed in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Nega now only faces accusations of scamming $99,715 in 2008 for a pilot program run by his company iEmpower, a program that sparked a 10-year government funding partnership worth a further $4.1 million.

Police claim Mr Nega faked $10m insurance policies to secure the government contracts for iEmpower and invented financial statements that were “formula generated”.

When asked about the allegations a Department of Justice (DoJ) senior policy officer said: “I am actually very shocked at this news.”

In one case, Mr Nega is said to have blamed iEmpower refugee participants for being “difficult” and destroying equipment as the reason why one program spent $20k over budget.

Mr Nega continues to face 19 charges, including for stealing more than $25k, for faking credentials to get a $21k board position at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and making false statements, documents and records.

Abeselom Nega is facing charges and accused of running a scam.

It comes as Victoria’s corruption watchdog investigated and cleared Mr Nega before he was hit with criminal charges.

Mr Nega was first probed by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in 2016, court documents reveal.

But the state’s top corruption body told police it “did not uncover any evidence” to support the allegation Mr Nega had “misappropriated government funding or engaged in corrupt conduct”.

“I was astounded,” Detective Senior Constable Sasha Jasic said in an official statement.

The officer, from the Fraud and Extortion Squad, “queried the depth” of the IBAC investigation, documents before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court show.

But he was told IBAC focused only on the tender process for awarding government grants to Mr Nega’s company, iEmpower.

It didn’t make “any inquiries” over the source of $2.4m that Mr Nega was accused of gambling away at Crown Casino.

Det Sen Constable Jasic launched a fresh police probe in 2017 and charged Mr Nega with 26 offences over accusations of a million-dollar government scam, with 19 charges now continuing over almost $100k obtained by his company for the pilot program.

Police tapped Mr Nega’s phone for three months amid their investigation of the iEmpower chief executive, given government grants for a decade to provide programs to steer disenfranchised young people and refugees away from the criminal system.

In 2018, as search warrants were executed and his wife arrested for allegedly obtaining proceeds of crime, Mr Nega was recorded saying: “We need to go to church and make a pledge. Cry to God. If we get out of this, we will go to Israel and take the communion there”.

Despite telling others not to speak on the phone because he believed police were listening, Mr Nega told a mystery woman he was “accused of embezzling money but he’d done nothing wrong, not even gotten a parking fine”.

“She asks what has happened and he says he started gambling, and developed a gambling problem, and went to a place called Crown. She tells him everything will pass and she will pray for him.”

Meanwhile, police reviews of bank records found significant cash withdrawals made soon after government funds were paid to iEmpower, which could be matched to gambling ‘buy-ins’ at Crown.

“All of this was most unusual in the conduct of a legitimate business,” Det Sen Con Jasic said in his statement.

Crown confirmed Mr Nega was a Loyalty member and had lost $2.4m between 2005 to 2017 – a large sum for a person on a modest income, according to police.

Police launched a probe after receiving an anonymous letter titled, “Contempt for the law and society” in April 2015.

Typed by someone with a “fictitious” name, the letter made allegations Mr Nega invented qualifications to get government funding and jobs, including a board position on the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

Police claim Mr Nega beefed up his resume with fake qualifications from the University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and Monash University.

He has pleaded not guilty, and has claimed that his private company was entitled to make a profit after services were delivered.

IBAC did not answer questions from the Herald Sun about its dismissed 2016 inquiry.

Mr Nega will return to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for the continuation of a committal hearing on May 25.