Same-name voters headed to Auburn weeks before Salim Mehajer win

Nineteen people with the one surname moved into ­Auburn weeks before a council election.

Shi Lao and partner Julie. Picture: Britta Campion

Seven members of Salim Mehajer’s family lived in a three-­bedroom rented unit and 19 people with the same surname moved into more than a dozen different ­Auburn homes weeks before a council election, according to ­allegedly fraudulent electoral records lodged by the nation’s best known deputy mayor.

In documents filed in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court yesterday, Australian Federal Police allege Mr Mehajer and his sister Fatima forged 76 documents in the lead-up to Auburn’s September 2012 election.

It is alleged the pair submitted 76 electoral enrolment forms to the Australian Electoral Commission four weeks before the election in the names of other people. Those forms allegedly contained forged signatures along with false claims the people lived in Auburn’s second ward, which the ­Mehajers were contesting. Those alleged crimes carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

It is also alleged Mr Mehajer’s brother-in-law and five other ­associates who ran as candidates in the 2012 Auburn election lodged “candidate information sheets” that included false claims they also lived in Auburn’s second ward and so were eligible to run.

Despite defendants being generally required to attend court at the beginning of cases, just one ­attended yesterday: Shi Lao, 29, of Concord in Sydney’s west.

Mr Lao, who went with a partner identified only as Julie, declined to comment outside court.

Lawyers for each of the eight yesterday told the court they all planned to plead not guilty to the charges.

Lawyer Phillip Green, representing Salim and Fatima Mehajer, said police were yet to file a detailed brief, but he had been told it was a very large “10 folders”.

Mr Mehajer, a prominent property developer in Auburn as well as a councillor, captured the nation’s attention in August when his wedding, which included a jet flyover and a parade of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of luxury cars, caused the unapproved closure of an Auburn street.

Documents filed by the AFP ­allege that on August 6 and 7, 2012 — four weeks before the council election — the 76 fraudulent electoral enrolment forms were filed with the AEC.

Among those were forms purportedly signed by Mr Mehajer’s now wife Aysha, his mother Amal, his father Mohamad, his sisters Aisha, Zenah and Khadijeh and his brother Khaled.

The forms claimed all now lived at 1/275 Park Road, Auburn; an eighth form claimed a Sabah Bakkour also lived at the property.

Property searches show the home is a three-bedroom apartment in a brick walk-up owned by Gou Zhu and Wei Fan, who bought it for $373,000 in 2011.

In 19 of the 76 allegedly fraudulent forms, the people now allegedly living in Auburn had the surname Kanj. Ibrahim Kanj, Mouhamad Kanj and Malake Kanj allegedly lived at 148 Chisolm Road; while Riad Kaddodck Kanj, Aboud Kanj and Safa Kanj lived on properties on Water Street. Some of those forms also related to people who apparently lived in properties owned or developed by Mr Mehjaer, searches by The Australian show.

In council elections, a candidate is listed “above the line”, and so more prominently, on ballot­ ­papers, if they run as part of a group of candidates.

Mr Mehajer, who had formed a group of six candidates, was elected in 2012; Fatima’s group of five candidates was not elected.

The case returns to court on March 29.