Salim Mehajer’s week from hell continues as he is formally laid with drug charges
SALIM Mehajer’s big week in court has continued, as he is formally charged with offences relating to “hillbilly heroin”.
SALIM Mehajer has been charged with possessing and supplying oxycodone, otherwise known as “hillbilly heroin”.
Additionally, the embattled property developer was today hit with a fresh charge of perverting the course ofjustice just as he was about to face court over the new drug charges.
Mehajer’s lawyer Zali Burrows told Burwood Local Court at lunchtime on Wednesday that she had been unable to speak with him in prison since the latest charge was laid.
Police have charged Mehajer with his second pervert the course of justice arising from documents submitted during an earlier bail application on the first pervert the course of justice charge. He is due to make a Supreme Court bail application on Easter Thursday.
Earlier Wednesday, the embattled property developer was formally charged with two possession and one supply charge of prohibited drugs including oxycodone and anti-anxiety and heavy-duty painkillers in Burwood Local Court.
It also emerged he is due to launch an application by his lawyer for a “forensic procedure” set to take place on July 25.
Mehajer, who appeared in court on the third of four occasions in a single week, was charged with alleged possession of 50 Alprazolam tablets — commonly known as Xanax, six grams of Alprazolam and 174 tablets of Endone and Targin containing 42.6 grams of oxycodone at his Lidcombe home.
He was charged with allegedly supplying the 174 tablets containing the oxycodone.
The drug charges relate to a police raid of his Lidcombe resident last November.
Mehajer’s appearance in Burwood Local Court on the drug charges and over an alleged faked car crash was delayed due to a union meeting on Wednesday morning by prison officers at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater where he is being held.
Four of his six co-accused in the alleged fake car crash matter appeared before Magistrate Michelle Goodwin.
Mehajer and his co-accused have entered pleas of not guilty to the car crash charges.
One of the co-accused Michael Moufferige is now in prison after he was arrested on March 22 for breach of bail.
Mehajer, Michael Moufferige, Elias Moufferige, Fakaha Ki Malinda Moufferige, Nora Anne Bush, Ahmed Jaghbir and Rafi Noori have all been charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud Insurance Australia Group (also known as NRMA Insurance) over the alleged faked crash.
Mr Mehajer and Mr Jaghbir are also charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over the car crash last October, which police allege was staged for Mr Mehajer to avoid a court appearance.
Mehajer was arrested and charged and denied bail. He has been behind bars on remand since January.
Elias Moufferige, Fakaha Malinda Moufferige, Nora Anne Bush and Ahmed Jaghbir, who are all on bail appeared in court on Wednesday.
The matter has been remanded to June 6.
Court papers seen by news.com.au say that Mehajer allegedly tried to pervert the course of justice in the fresh charge on February 7.
The charge alleges he did so “to mislead the local court in respect of his bail application” on the pervert the course of justice charge relating to the car crash.
Mehajer’s drug charges come after two days of appearances over an alleged breach of an AVO against his former wife Aysha Learmonth, during which Mehajer called her a “grandstanding drama queen”.
The Alprazolam, Targin and Endone tablets were allegedly discovered by police during a raid on Mehajer’s Lidcombe home on November 8, as they searched for evidence in relation to the car crash.
Wednesday’s fresh charges come less than a week after he was declared bankrupt by a Federal Circuit Court judge.
One of Mehajer’s companies allegedly failed to pay a debt of over $200,000 for a lavish marble staircase built in his home.
The order means the estate of the former Auburn deputy mayor will be managed by a bankruptcy trustee who will take control of his property and financial affairs and deal with his creditors.
Earlier this week, Mehajer appeared in Burwood Court while Aysha Learmonth appeared by video link from a police station, saying she was afraid of her former husband.
Mehajer denied sending a message via Instagram, which Ms Learmonth said had made her
“uneasy” and scared to be alone.
The message which police allege was from Mehajer’s account was sent to his now ex-wife Aysha Learmonth about 5am on November 10 last year and she believed it was a coded way of telling her he knew where she was working and was watching her.
Ms Learmonth, who revealed the couple divorced earlier this month, said she took a screenshot of the message before she deleted it and blocked Mehajer.
Asked why she responded that way, she told police prosecutor Stephen Dayeian: “He was not allowed to contact me.”
Earlier this month, he was placed on a good behaviour bond for assaulting a taxi driver with an EFTPOS machine last April.
In February, he was found guilty of assaulting a television reporter when he slammed his car door on her arm.