The family of a state government official who pocketed $11million and then vanished after ‘putting the bins out’ one Sunday has broken their silence about his whereabouts and slammed the police for breaking down their front door.
Ibrahim Helmy, 38 – the alleged mastermind of a $343million corruption scheme involving rigged Transport for NSW contracts – has been missing since May.
NSW Police on Monday issued an outstanding arrest warrant for Helmy after he failed to appear before an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry, saying he is believed to be on the run.
When Daily Mail Australia asked Ibrahim’s father Moustafa Helmy at his Merrylands home if he knew where his son was, the fugitive’s dad said he was not concerned for his son’s welfare and was confident ‘he is safe’.
‘My son is a good man, what they are saying they have to prove. He is an engineer and he is a good person. The gold bullion? My daughter believes it is a good investment, better than banks,’ he said.
‘They took it, along with my son’s Maserati when they came here and broke down my door. There were 30 of them. They were crazy.
‘Why didn’t they just knock instead of breaking the door in the night when we were sleeping?’
Mr Helmy was referring to the raid by ICAC and the NSW Crime Commission on his Merrylands home last September, when officers seized gold, platinum and silver bars, gold nuggets, bundles of cash totalling $12,317, and a Maserati.
Missing ‘$11.5million man’ Ibrahim Helmy’s father Moustafa has broken his silence about his son who disappeared ‘putting out the bins’ and talked about the gold and silver bullion seized from their Merrylands home
Police seized bundles of cash, gold, silver and platinum bars, and cryptocurrency worth around $8.5million when they raided the Helmys’ Merrylands home last September, ‘breaking down the door’ last September. Months later he vanished ‘putting out the bins’
Among the seized items were gold bullion in red bags, more than $12,000 in cash, a Kogan cash counter and various gold, silver and platinum bars
The Crime Commission further seized $8million in cryptocurrency held in a Binance account by Mr Helmy’s daughter, and $413,000 in cryptocurrency held by Ibrahim Helmy.
Helmy is alleged to have received $11.5million in kickbacks – including bundles of cash, gold bullion and cryptocurrency – from contractors in return for them being awarded work on the state’s roads.
Helmy, a civil engineer who worked for Transport for NSW for 15 years, was suspended from his job at the time of the raid, and sacked in February.
ICAC alleged that Helmy arranged for four colleagues to ensure businesses he had corrupt relationships with would be awarded contract work valued from $12million to $99million.
His father Moustafa told the Mail he was ‘not sure how long it is since (Ibrahim) left, but I haven’t seen him’. But he stressed that he believed his son had been ‘good at his job’.
He said both his children, Ibrahim and his daughter were qualified civil engineers and that he himself was a retired electrical engineer and that his whole family ‘have nothing to hide’.
Mr Helmy, whose modest 2009 Holden Barina was parked outside the family home, said the raid on his house last year when he, his wife and Ibrahim were in bed had ‘scared us’.
He said he wasn’t sure of the value of the family’s items that had been seized in the raid, but that it was ‘all legitimate’ and nothing had been returned to them.
The ICAC haul included gold bars, platinum and silver bullion, bundles of cash, cryptocurrency and computers and other devices when they knocked down the door of the Helmys’ Merylands home
Moustafa Helmy (pictured at his Merrylands home on Monday) said 30 officers stormed the home after dark, breaking the door in and scaring himself, his wife and his son Ibrahim
Authorities believe Ibrahim Helmy is hiding in NSW after disappearing in May, as they have seized his Australian passport, a US passport and issued warnings to look out for the fugitive
Computers and storage devices were seized along with a US passport from the Merrylands home, before Ibrahim Helmy was bailed on strict conditions.
Ibrahim’s younger brother, Mohamed Helmy, is alleged to have profited from the scheme being investigated by ICAC’s Operation Wyvern presided over by ICAC Chief Commissioner John Hatzistergos.
The fourth public inquiry into Transport for NSW since 2019, it has been investigating allegations of corrupt conduct in the arm responsible for building and maintaining the state’s road network.
Ibrahim Helmy had worked at Transport for NSW in different roles.
He is known to frequent the Merrylands and Guildford areas in Sydney‘s west. He is described as being Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, 175cm tall, medium build and has black hair.
Police seized Ibrahim Helmy’s Maserati and this $500,000 2024 Bentley during the ICAC raids investigating Transport for NSW corruption scams
Ibrahim Helmy frequents Merrylands and Guildford in Sydney’s west and is of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, 175cm tall, with black hair. Pictured, right, some of the cash seized
‘Anyone who sees him is urged not to approach him but to call triple zero,’ a police statement read.
Helmy’s Australian passport was detected at Sydney Airport awaiting a flight to China after the Merrylands raid, in September 2024, and he failed to board the flight.
He allegedly made unsuccessful attempts to flee overseas after becoming aware that he was the central figure of an ICAC investigation.
‘We believe he remains in the jurisdiction and that individuals have been collaborating to conceal his whereabouts. Active steps are being taken to locate him,’ senior barrister assisting the ICAC Rob Ranken SC told the inquiry on Monday.
‘We suspect it is only a matter of time before he is located and we urge him to come forward of his own volition.’
