Bankrupt property developer and disgraced former politician Salim Mehajer has walked free after five years in jail to live with his parents because he’s flat broke.
The one-time millionaire who flaunted his wealth with an extravagant wedding and luxury marble mansion left the John Morony Correctional Centre in Windsor, 55km northwest of Sydney on Friday morning.
The 39-year-old jumped into a blacked-out Mercedes and left through the prison gates, but now faces a strict regime of reporting daily to his parole officer.
Camera crews began arriving at the prison at 4am to prepare for his release.
But in the end, it was an anti-climax. Mehajer sped away to meet his parents at a prearranged location, and then continued onwards to their home.
He was last seen by an Nine Network helicopter when his chauffeur pulled into the Westfield Parramatta car park where he is believed to have swapped vehicles.
Salim, the eldest of Amal and Mohamad Mehajer’s eight children, will be relying on his parents’ support if he follows through on his plan to rebuild his failed property empire.
The former Auburn council deputy mayor has been in prison since November 2020, when he was jailed for lying to a court, and has served back-to-back sentences for multiple offences.
Disgraced former property developer Salim Mehajer has walked free from jail after serving five years behind bars, but the corrupt former deputy mayor will have to report daily to his parole officer and live with his mum and dad because he’s broke
Mehajer left the jail in a black Mercedes
Mehajer, 39, was released from John Morony Correctional Centre at Windsor in Sydney’s west on a raft of parole conditions
The NSW State Parole Authority (SPA) decided last month to grant his release on conditions including that he undergo drug and alcohol testing, participate in domestic violence programs if directed, and not communicate with any outlaw motorcycle gang bikies or associates.
He is also banned from contacting his DV victim or entering the Central Coast.
Creditors included the Australian Taxation Office and the company which built the marble staircase at his former lavish home in Frances Street, Lidcombe.
He was locked up again in 2020 after he was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of making a false statement under oath.
A jury found Mehajer guilty of multiple counts of assault, one count of intimidation and one count of suffocation relating to his abuse of an ex-partner, and he was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and nine months in jail.
He was convicted of assaulting the victim by punching her in the head in his car, suffocating her with his hand over her nose and mouth until she passed out, crushing her hand as she held her phone and threatening to kill her mother.
Mehajer (pictured above at his 2015 wedding which made headlines) has been embroiled in a series of legal and financial troubles and committed a string of offences which put him behind bars
Mehajer leaves Cooma prison in 2019 with lawyer Zali Burrows, but he was back behind bars the following years and later convicted of forging Ms Burrows’ signature
The staircase of Mehajer’s former Lidcombe home which was repossessed by the bank when the convicted fraudster was declared bankrupt
At a further trial while he was in jail, he was found guilty by a jury of fraud on two counts each of making a false document and using a false document.
The jury convicted him of creating false statutory declarations and affidavits by forging the signatures of his solicitor, Zali Burrows, and one of his six sisters.
Mehajer overcame a raft of objections, including the risk of him reoffending, his refusal to change his attitude and his continued denial of some of his crimes.
In granting him a release, SPA said Mehajer had completed all possible programs in prison.
It determined his rehabilitation was better served in the community under the supervision of a psychologist and community corrections officers.
His parole conditions include being of good behaviour, and ongoing treatment from a private psychologist.
Mehajer first made headlines with his over-the-top wedding in 2015, when a reported $1million of gaudy excess closed off a Sydney street.
Mehajer and his young bride ‘Aysha’ – former Wollongong beautician April Learmonth – were married amid a procession of Harley Davidsons, rented Lamborghinis, a helicopter overhead, and a reception with 10,000 red roses and gold-dusted desserts.
Mehajer was once a wealthy property developer with a luxury mansion and flashy cars but squandered his fortune with dodgy deals which landed him in prison
Mehajer staged a car crash in 2017 which led to him pleading guilty to 22 charges, including perverting the course of justice, and making a false call for an ambulance
The flashy party had been delayed until Mehajer’s father made his exit from prison, after being released early from a maximum three and half years’ sentence.
Mohamad Mehajer was convicted of conspiring to defraud the National Australia Bank of more than $3million after attempting to bribe a bank employee to approve a loan that overstated the value of the family property company.
Salim’s marriage lasted a year. In 2016, Aysha took out a restraining order against him, and thereafter the attention-seeking fraudster became embroiled in legal and financial troubles.
Now it’s his dad’s turn to help his son, who he has previously described as ‘the brain’ and ‘the head’ of the family.
