Jailed Eddie Obeid called to inquiry on mayor Khal Asfour

Corrupt ex-Labor MP Eddie Obeid will likely give evidence against Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour as part of a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of impropriety.

Embattled Labor upper house candidate Khal Asfour has pulled out from the upcoming state election. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Corrupt ex-Labor MP Eddie Obeid will likely give evidence against Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour as part of a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of impropriety levelled against the former Labor upper house candidate.

Mr Asfour has tood down from Labor’s ticket, decrying a “vicious smear campaign” being waged against him.

Mr Asfour had been subject to the inquiry into allegations of corruption made by former colleague Tania Mihailuk, who said he had worked to “further the interests” of Obeid with a Bankstown car park development in Sydney’s southwest.

She claimed Obeid attended Mr Asfour’s wedding in 2010, “adorning him with a generous gift”. But Mr Asfour claimed he and Obeid were “not mates at all”, and he had been “badgered” by Ms Mihailuk into inviting the former Labor powerbroker to his wedding.

It is understood Mr Asfour was notified on Thursday afternoon that the committee intended to call Obeid via videolink from Silverwater Prison to provide evidence, while the mayor would also be recalled.

After a conversion with Labor leader Chris Minns that night, Mr Asfour made the decision to resign. But a spokesman for Mr Asfour welcomed the move to call Obeid, saying it would provide him with an opportunity to inform the inquiry about his ­“relationship with the dumped” Ms Mihailuk.

“The inquiry can also get an understanding of the purpose of her visit to his home at Hunters Hill in the lead-up to her being preselected as the Labor candidate for Bankstown,” he said.

After decades of allegations of corruption and a number of investigations by the NSW corruption watchdog, Obeid was jailed in 2021 for his role in a mining conspiracy involving then natural resources minister Ian Macdonald.

Months after The Australian broke revelations that Mr Asfour had charged ratepayers $50,000 for an online postgraduate ­degree, he stood down just nine weeks out from the state election after revelations emerged he had used ratepayer funds on merchandise, among other things.

A Canterbury-Bankstown council spokesman said the mayor had been subjected to a “vicious smear campaign” but said the stories were proving to be an unwanted distraction for the NSW Labor Party.

“The latest headlines are the last straw,” he said.

Mr Minns agree that the ­incessant revelations were proving a distraction, but said charging ratepayers for expenses such as $120 on a massage during a trip to Japan, and $500 for a Bally briefcase bought on sale, was unacceptable.