do they mean "real children" .. or those ones.. who don't exist??
I can't believe this can happen...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-12/two-charged-with-fraud-in-terror-probe/7721012
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Two men charged with childcare fraud in multi-million-dollar counter-terrorism investigation
7.30
By
Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop
Updated 9 minutes ago
PHOTO: The AFP raided Play School Family Day Care on Wednesday.
MAP: Sydney 2000
Two men have been charged with fraud and another two have been questioned in a multi-million-dollar Australian Federal Police (AFP) counter-terrorism and fraud investigation that has exposed gaping holes in Australia's childcare system.
The AFP this week raided the Lakemba family day care businesses of brothers Mohammad and Ibrahim Omar, aged 27 and 25, over more than $27 million in Commonwealth childcare benefits and rebates claimed since 2012 by the nearly 600 home providers of family day care on their books.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether millions of dollars in childcare subsidies and rebates have been rorted and sent offshore, under the noses of federal and New South Wales education, welfare and health authorities.
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Administrator arrested while preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia
Two family day care educators on the Omars' books were arrested this week and charged with defrauding the Commonwealth.
PHOTO: Childcare administrator Ali Assaad was arrested as he was preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia. (Supplied: Facebook)
One of the men, 22-year-old Ali Assaad, is the secretary of Sydney charity Dar al Quran wa Sunnah, which is accused by Lebanese authorities of funding the Islamic State terrorist group.
Police allege Assaad collected more than $152,000 in child care benefits in the past financial year and claimed to be looking after children in his Moorebank home in Sydney’s south-west when he was actually in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Assaad, an administrator at Sydney Islamic centre Markaz Imam Ahmad, was preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia when he was arrested on Wednesday.
He was released on bail in a Sydney court last night on the conditions he surrender his passport to the AFP and not attempt to leave the country.
The main target of the investigation was 26-year-old waterproofer Hussain Dandachi, who was arrested in a raid on his Old Guildford home last night
The investigation was launched last October after Dandachi was blocked from boarding an international flight at Sydney Airport and his passport was cancelled.
Dandachi is due to face court today charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception, dishonestly causing loss to the Commonwealth and making false or misleading statements in an application.
The alleged scam
Family day care educators can look after up to seven children in their own home.
They must pass criminal history and Working with Children checks, and register the details of the children in their care with their provider.
In exchange, they can claim the Commonwealth Government Child Care Benefit subsidy and the Child Care rebate.
Police say that during three periods between August 2015 and May 2016, Ali Assaad claimed to be looking after children at his home in Moorebank in southwest Sydney.
However, on all three occasions, Assaad was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The charity
Assaad worked for the Australian charity, Dar al Quran wa Sunnah, in Kuala Lumpur.
The charity, which has been operating in Australia since 2012, describes itself on its Facebook page as a community project bettering the Muslim community through education and aid.
Last July, the
ABC revealed that Dar al Quran wa Sunnah was accused by Lebanese authorities of alleged links to Islamic State (IS).
Ali Assaad told police that he did go to Kuala Lumpur three times, but says his wife or mother-in-law took over his child care duties.
