Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party.
Prior to the March 2015 expiry of his term in the Legislative Council, Obeid announced his decision to retire early on 10 May 2011, citing family reasons.
[1] A series of three investigative hearings by the Independent Commission Against Corruption between 2012 and 2014 into the conduct of Obeid and others found that Obeid acted in a corrupt manner in relation to cafe leases at Circular Quay and that he misused his position as a Member of Parliament to benefit his family's financial interests in both Direct Health Solutions and in water licences over the family's Bylong Valley farm.
[8][9][10] In 2013, the DPP announced that it would be prosecuting Obeid for misconduct in public office,[11][12] and a criminal trial in the Supreme Court of New South Wales began in February 2016.
[21][22] A dual Lebanese–Australian citizen,[24] of Lebanese Maronite Catholic faith, Obeid was an altar boy, sold newspapers from a street corner, and collected deposits on soft drink bottles.
Prior to entering parliament, Obeid held a range of voluntary roles that included a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1980–1982), a part-time Commissioner of the Ethnic Affairs Commission (1981–1985), a vice-president of the Ethnic Press Association of Australia (1981–1986), a director of the Western Suburbs Hospital Board (sic) (1983–1986), on the Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of New South Wales (1985–1988), the lead of the Australian-Lebanese hostage negotiation mission to Iraq (December 1990), and was the patron of the Australian Lebanese Christian Federation.
[23] Elected to the Legislative Council in 1991 to replace Jack Hallam,[21] despite a brief carriage of junior ministerial responsibilities in the second Carr ministry, Obeid's main contribution to parliament has been through Committee representation[23] and his ability to manipulate factional numbers and votes.
[2] His term in parliament was dogged by controversy, including: A large number of the allegations against Obeid were generated by Fairfax Media's, Sydney Morning Herald.
[27] As a result of these allegations, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) conducted an inquiry and found that there was no evidence that any donation was made to the Labor Party in relation to the project.
[28] In the meantime, The Herald reports for a series of articles concerning Canterbury Bulldogs salary cap breaches and the above (false) allegations had won a Gold Walkley.
[58] In November 2012, the New South Wales ICAC began a series of investigative hearings relating to Obeid's alleged property and mining interests.
[61][62] On 31 July 2013 the ICAC found that Obeid, Macdonald, and others engaged in corrupt conduct in relation to their actions involving the Mount Penny mining tenement in the Bylong Valley.
[63] In 2014 the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission commenced investigations of allegations of cartel conduct in relation to the 2009 tender process for the coal exploration licence.
[67] In January 2014, the then Premier, Barry O'Farrell, announced that the Liberal/National government would introduce legislation into Parliament to cancel the exploration licences for Doyles Creek, Mount Penny and Glendon Brook.
[68][69] In late May 2017, Obeid was committed to stand trial on conspiracy charges with Macdonald, relating to McDonald's granting of a coal exploration licence involving the Mount Penny tenement;[70][71] due to commence in March 2019.
The ICAC also investigated allegations that, between 2005 and 2008, Obeid misused his position to attempt to influence other public officials to make decisions favouring Direct Health Solutions Pty Ltd., without disclosing that he, his family or a related entity had an interest in that company (Operation Meeka).
[8][9][10] In November 2014 the ICAC announced that following advice from the DPP, Obeid would be prosecuted for the offence of misconduct in public office for corruptly lobbying his former colleagues to gain lucrative concessions over cafe leases at Circular Quay that were secretly owned by his family.
[80][81][82] Obeid, together with his son and Macdonald, lodged an appeal against their conviction, claiming that Justice Fullerton made a number of errors of fact and reasoning when she found them guilty.