Wedding video was Mehajer's 'feature film'

Former western Sydney councillor Salim Mehajer has defended categorising his wedding as a feature film in order to close streets.

Auburn's flamboyant former deputy mayor Salim Mehajer has put his wedding video in the same category as films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now at an inquiry into alleged dodgy council decisions.

The Auburn City Council Public Inquiry is investigating allegations some councillors, including Mr Mehajer, made planning and development decisions that benefited themselves and family members before they were sacked in February.

Mr Mehajer was on Friday asked about his August 2015 wedding which involved four helicopters and a cavalcade of sports cars.

The inquiry heard he made an application to have part of his Lidcombe Street closed for the purposes of filming a "feature film" after doubts arose about whether roads could be blocked for a wedding.

Mr Mehajer, who is also a property developer, maintained the recategorisation was justified and offered to show the 45-second trailer to the inquiry.

"A feature film is The Godfather isn't it, Apocalypse Now?," counsel assisting the commissioner Paul Bolster said.

"I got my very own feature film, I guess," Mr Mehajer said with a smile.

The inquiry has previously heard former deputy general manager of the council, Hamish McNulty thought only one helicopter was going to be involved in the wedding until the night before the extravagant celebration.

But Mr Mehajer said he always intended to have more than one and would have included more if logistics allowed.

"Four (helicopters) was limited to the space we had," he said.

Mr Mehajer, who denied knowing there had been an issue with the number of helicopters used in his wedding, did not answer journalists' questions as he left the inquiry and got into a Porsche.

On the stand, he denied lobbying a councillor to change his mind about returning half of a $650,000 deposit his company had put on a council-owned car park.

He also denied a decision before he was a councillor not to extend a time limit he needed to secure the contract made him decide to run in the election.

Both the deposit refund and extension of time were granted while Mehajer was in council.

Mr McNulty has said the council originally understood Mehajer wanted to have a helicopter land on a street but was given advice that wouldn't be approved.

The inquiry is expected to continue next month.


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world