Controversial Sydney businessman Salim Mehajer has been led away from court in handcuffs after being ordered to serve 11 months behind bars for electoral fraud.
The 32-year-old was allowed to take off his suit jacket to cover his handcuffs before being escorted out of the Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
Magistrate Beverley Schurr jailed him for 21 months, ordering he be released after 11 months and then placed on a $500 three-year good behaviour bond.
She previously had found him guilty of 77 charges related to a joint criminal enterprise with his sister Fatima to influence the 2012 Auburn City Council vote.
Fatima Mehajer (left) leaves the Downing Centre court in Sydney. Source: AAP
He was the only sibling to be elected and later became deputy mayor.
The magistrate said the offending "strikes at the heart of the democratic system and the integrity of the electoral roll".
She sentenced Fatima Mehajer, who had pleaded guilty to the charges, to a two-month suspended jail term and placed her on a $500 nine-month good behaviour bond.
The offences involved submitting to the Australian Electoral Commission forms that gave false addresses in the Auburn area with the siblings exchanging numerous incriminating text messages on July 30, 2012, shortly before the close of the electoral roll.
Salim Mehajer's lawyers indicated they would lodge a sentence appeal later on Friday and apply for bail pending it being heard at a later date.
