Crime figures exploiting bail system amid claims of fake trackers, perjury and weapons offences

Police are investigating privately run bail and rehabilitation services after claims underworld figures and violent criminals are gaming the system to win release.

The expensive services promise to monitor the movements of accused offenders while on bail, and provide mental health or drug rehabilitation services.

Majid Alibadi was picked up in a Rolls-Royce after being released on bail.Credit: Jason South

But claims have been aired in court that the programs are not what they purport to be.

One high-profile case involves a suspected gangland client who was allegedly given a fake GPS tracker.

Court records show the availability of bail and rehabilitation programs has become increasingly influential in magistrates’ and judges’ decisions to grant bail.

Four police, underworld and legal sources say these private operators are ripe for exploitation and abused by organised crime figures who can afford the steep fees for services – up to $12,000 a month — knowing the supervision on them will be lax or in pseudo-medical facilities.

“Word gets around very quickly about which services are going to be the most helpful or lax. What we’re basically talking about here is buying bail by making it look like someone in authority is tracking them or monitoring them,” said an organised crime detective, who cannot be identified criticising the judicial system or government policy.

“Nobody’s really checking who these [operators] are or whether the services are actually working the way they claim.”

Victoria Police declined to comment on individual cases but confirmed it was investigating a series of privately run operators over allegations including perjury, and drug and weapons offences.

Earlier this month, the owner of prominent provider BailSafe was arrested and charged as part of an ongoing investigation into the bail compliance industry.

BailSafe director Jackson Oppy, 48, has been charged with possessing methylamphetamine and possessing steroids. BailSafe has been involved in numerous bail hearings since it was founded in 2022.

Another 63-year-old man from Sunshine North linked to the same investigation has been charged with possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing heroin and possessing methamphetamine.

In April, the operator of Australian Forensic Treatment Rehabilitation, David John Millar was arrested and interviewed as part of perjury investigation related to the work of AFTR. Millar has not been charged. The rehabilitation service has provided assessments and testimony since 2020 on behalf of a number of serious organised and violent criminals.

“Victoria Police’s Taskforce Lunar has several active investigations in relation to privately operated bail support or compliance companies,” a police spokesperson said.

“Victoria Police will pursue all relevant investigations to identify where criminal offences are suspected to have occurred or have been committed by individuals and/or companies operating these bail support services.”

Victoria Police declined to comment on the circumstances of the individual cases.

Millar was under investigation for perjury in relation to testimony he provided earlier this year in the successful bail application of a lieutenant in the Hamad crime syndicate, a shadowy underworld crew that has been linked to dozens of firebombings and shootings related to Melbourne’s “tobacco war”.

Police have alleged in court that Millar provided Majid Alibadi with a fake GPS tracker despite testifying the accused would be under constant monitoring.

“Information provided to police and the court in relation to the capabilities and activities of AFTR were not accurate,” Detective Leading Senior Constable Matthew Lindsay told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in May.

“The device provided to Mr Alibadi was a watch and did not have the capacity to provide GPS tracking. The device provided to Mr Alibadi could be removed from his wrist and there was no alert when it occurred.”

It’s not the first time Australian Forensic Treatment Rehabilitation’s capabilities have been called into question in court.

The organisation, which claims in promotional materials that “99 per cent of AFTR clients are bailed or subject to court orders”, purports to provide 24-hour GPS monitoring.

During a court hearing in February, it emerged that there were potential gaps in its services as staff “generally only check their notifications during business hours or thereabouts, limiting the ability of breaches being promptly reported to the [police]”.

‘[The offender] openly stated he was willing to change his version of events in order to achieve the desired outcome, namely, bail’

Judge

Concerns have also been raised about a plan to bail an accused arsonist-for-hire to a Shepparton rehabilitation facility, The Cottage, following testimony of a police officer about alleged criminality and security lapses at the centre.

Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Michael Ferwerda told a court there was an active investigation related to drug trafficking at The Cottage, and staff had previously failed to report a person as missing.

“I don’t believe it’s a fit place to send someone on bail,” Ferwerda said. The Cottage general manager Aaron Gilhooley denied the claims.

In February 2019, a drug rehab service known as the Wellbeing Planet was raided and shut down by police after the discovery of a secret doorway connecting the Elsternwick facility to a clandestine drug lab next door.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety declined to comment on the emergence of the bail industry or its lack of regulation.

The Department of Health said complaints about privately run facilities that offered drug and alcohol programs should be made to the health complaints commissioner.

Court Services Victoria, which is responsible for the administration of the court system, said: “Any allegation of criminal conduct or the misuse of bail support services and programs is deeply concerning.”

It said it was up to the parties in individual cases to challenge evidence presented in court, because “judicial officers do not conduct investigations or inquiries outside the courtroom”.

But there has been mounting disquiet among some members of the judiciary about the services.

In July 2023, Oppy from BailSafe testified about the proposed bail and rehab arrangements for an offender accused of firing a 12-gauge shotgun into a car window as part of an armed robbery.

“A difficulty is that Mr Oppy does not appear to me to have the requisite qualifications to diagnose a severe substance disorder and there is no properly qualified medical professional to make these assessments,” Justice Lex Lasry found in his decision to deny bail. “The arrangements to be made by BailSafe are almost entirely online.”

Just a few months later, another accused charged in two shootings and a firebombing was overheard mocking BailSafe’s vetting program on telephone intercepts.

“[The offender] openly stated he was willing to change his version of events in order to achieve the desired outcome, namely, bail”, a court found. Bail was denied.

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