As he awaits word on his fate for providing false testimony to the state’s corruption watchdog over ten years ago, the son of disgraced former Labour minister Eddie Obeid may be released from prison in a matter of weeks.
Due to his involvement in a plot to commit an act of misconduct in public service, Moses Obeid is already incarcerated.
Along with former Labour powerbroker father Eddie Obeid and former Resources Minister Ian Macdonald, he was sentenced to at least three years in prison in October 2021.
The plot concerned a coal exploration licence that covered an Obeid family property in the upper Hunter region of NSW’s Bylong Valley.
However, the younger Obeid’s attorney, Philip Strickland SC, said the NSW District Court on Tuesday that he might be released from custody in a matter of weeks to serve out his remaining time at home.
“He will, or is most likely, to be released into the community in April,” said Strickland.
According to a sentencing evaluation report created for Obeid, “so he’ll finish the remaining part of his non-parole period on home detention,” he stated.
Despite pleaded guilty to two counts of providing false or misleading information to a public inquiry, he is still awaiting punishment and could be eligible for parole in October due to the conspiracy.
The accusations stem from testimony provided to the Independent Commission Against Corruption in May and November of 2012 regarding the 2007 gift of a Honda CR-V to the minister at the time, Eric Roozendaal.
Although Obeid was found to have acted corruptly and, along with numerous others, was referred for potential criminal proceedings, Roozendaal was determined not to have committed any wrongdoing regarding the affair.
Rocco Triulcio, a co-offender and former business partner of Obeid, was given a 21-month intensive rehabilitation order in January, which keeps him out of jail under stringent monitoring.
A similar order is being sought by Obeid’s solicitors.
Obeid was identified for potential reintegration home detention, which is available for inmates deemed to be at low risk of reoffending for six months before to the expiration of their non-parole period, according to Catherine Garrett, the author of the assessment report, who testified in court.
If the court mandated it, she said, he may perform up to 20 hours of community service every month.
Garrett said he had been in touch with the local office at Muswellbrook, which is close to the Bylong Valley, to find out what community service opportunities would be available to him in the region.
Obeid was deemed appropriate for the programme, but no decision had been made as of yet.
