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NSW trio paid $1m Iraqi bribe

Three men, including the father of notorious ISIS recruit Mohamed Elomar, are facing a sentence hearing over a $1 million Iraqi bribe.

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Source: AAP


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The father of notorious ISIS recruit Mohamed Elomar and two other men who paid a $1 million bribe ultimately did not receive the Iraqi contract work they were seeking, a court has been told.

The construction work would have been worth between $400 million and $500 million, crown prosecutor David Staehli SC told the trio's sentence hearing in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.

The late terrorist's father Mamdouh Elomar, 63, his brother Ibrahim Elomar, 61, and businessman John Jousif, 48, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay a bribe to a foreign public official.

Mr Staehli submitted that the fact the Iraqi contracts were not obtained was a neutral factor in sentencing.

The conspiracy, which ran between July 7, 2014 and February 20, 2015, was to provide a benefit to another person with the intent to influence a foreign public official in order to obtain business.

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The $1 million bribe to Iraqi officials was aimed at sealing a preferred partner arrangement between Sydney-based construction firm Lifese and an Iraqi government-linked company.

Mr Staehli said much of the evidence related to intercepted phone calls and documents seized from the homes of the three men and from Lifese offices.

In early September 2014, more than $1 million in cash was provided by either of the brothers, or both, to Jousif who transferred it to a man in Iraq through a money exchange business in Auburn.

The hearing will continue on Friday before Justice Christine Adamson.


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