The Obeids were kicked out of two of the three cafes in 2012 for failing to pay rent. They then tried one last shifty manoeuvre over the Arc cafe. Just as their company was going into liquidation in 2013, they transferred the lease on the Arc to the Schibaia Group.As he sat in the witness box contemplating which lie to tell, Moses Obeid could not have known that his perjury would not only destroy the Obeid empire, but it would eventually lead to the
jailing of his father.
It was March 2012 and "Mo" Obeid and his company Streetscape had been ordered by the NSW Supreme Court to pay more than $12 million to the City of Sydney after he was caught cheating the council's ratepayers out of royalty payments by secretly selling the council's multi-function street poles in the Middle East.
But as was typical of the Obeid family, Moses had no intention of paying. He produced five years of tax returns which showed that his income as an office manager for Obeid Corporation was $100,000 per annum. And as for savings, he had less than $6000, he told the court.
However, the lawyers for the council had done their own forensic work. While he was painting a picture of near poverty to avoid paying, documents showed he was spending more than $500,000 a year to maintain a lavish lifestyle which included a maid.
In April 2012 Justice Peter Young ruled against Moses Obeid over the street poles, noting that members of the Obeid family were able to live "sumptuously" with millions of dollars flowing through a complicated series of discretionary trusts.
But the City of Sydney never did get their $12 million and NSW taxpayers are still owed $1 million in unpaid rent and costs for the Obeids' cafe leases.(Kate McClymont)
