Eddie Obeid refused bail, must present himself to Silverwater jail by Saturday morning

Disgraced former politician Eddie Obeid will have one last night at home before having to present himself to start his seven-year prison term.

The NSW Crime Commission has been told to claw back corrupt former MP Eddie Obeid’s hidden millions down to his “socks and jocks”, as the 77-year-old was ordered to present himself to jail after losing a bail application on Friday.

The one-time Labor powerbroker will be driven on Saturday to Silverwater jail in Sydney to begin his seven-year sentence after being convicted of a mine ­licence conspiracy.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott said he wanted the Crime Commission to make another attempt at cracking the complex financial system of trusts hiding $30m that the disgraced former MP made through the crooked coal licences.

“The tax office wants to strip him bare, but I want to get his socks and jocks,” Mr Elliott said.

“Any of that $30m in public money that doesn’t go to the tax office should go to the Crime Commission.

“I said to them, politicians should be treated at a higher standard, when it comes to those in public office. The community expects the Crime Commission to set aside any risk and pursue them to the nth degree.”

On Friday, judge Elizabeth Fullerton, who convicted and sentenced Obeid to at least three years and 10 months, refused to consider if he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Obeid’s lawyers say he will challenge his conviction in the Court of Criminal Appeal and applied for him to remain on bail, but this was denied on Friday.

His son, Moses Obeid, and ex-Labor Party colleague Ian Macdonald were on Thursday also jailed over the conspiracy.

The judge allowed him the night at home after learning he would spend 24 hours at the Sydney Police Centre instead of being taken straight into quarantine at Silverwater jail.

When Corrective Services could not guarantee on Friday what conditions Obeid would face in the Surry Hills cells, despite a series of inquiries, Justice Fullerton was not prepared to send him there due to the ­“potentially severe” consequences of contracting Covid-19.

She relied on the Supreme Court’s “extensive jurisdiction” to allow Obeid to travel to jail alongside his lawyer to be processed into Silverwater’s inmate quarantine facility.

“By no later than 10am tomorrow, he is to present at the MRRC reception centre at Holker St, Silverwater … to be processed as a sentenced prisoner in accordance with the sentence which I passed upon him yesterday of seven years imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and 10 months,” she said.

Moses Obeid and Macdonald also intend to appeal their convictions and sentence.

The three men had pleaded not guilty to their roles in a rigged tender process for an exploration licence on land owned by the Obeid family in NSW’s Bylong Valley. Moses Obeid will serve at least three years and Macdonald, 72, at least five years.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NCA NEWSWIRE