A judge has found former NSW Labor Ministers Ian McDonald and Eddie Obeid, as well as Obeid’s son Moses, guilty of conspiring to rig a tender process for a coal mining exploration licence on the Obeids’ land in the Bylong Valley.
Japanese bankng giant SMBC has emerged as the latest lender with exposure to an alleged fraud carried out by Sydney-based Forum Finance, with proceedings filed seeking recovery of almost $99 million it says it paid to a unit of Forum Group and controversial director Bill Papas.
The Federal Court has ordered the winding up of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and French investment bank Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, as details of the company’s jetsetting director’s planned return to Australia from Europe remain murky.