Latest news with #Merrylands
ABC News
6 days ago
- ABC News
Tearful ICAC witness recalls 'very improper' meeting with transport official
A traffic controller has told the state's corruption commission that he went behind his "wife's back" to pay kickbacks to a Transport for NSW (TfNSW) official, in order to win lucrative roadwork contracts. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating allegations that Ibrahim Helmy, who worked for TfNSW for 15 years, received $11.5 million in payments for helping contractors secure roadwork jobs, often at inflated prices. Mr Helmy failed to appear at ICAC earlier this month and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. On Thursday, operations manager at Direct Traffic Pty Ltd, Adam Spilsted, became emotional, telling the commission he would pass cash to Mr Helmy "under the table" at a Merrylands restaurant to help secure contracts for the business. "I was scared of not getting any work," he said "Working for a government agency such as Transport for NSW is a privilege," he said, choking back tears. "I've done the wrong thing ... It's something I should have … reported." Mr Spilsted told the hearing that Mr Helmy initially offered to help him win state government contracts because he knew Mr Spilsted's father. The ICAC earlier heard that about $48 million in contracts had been awarded by TfNSW to Direct Traffic Pty Ltd between 2018 and 2025. Mr Spilsted said Mr Helmy gave him tender evaluation criteria, as well as confidential information on other companies' bids. However, during one of their meetings at Merrylands library in 2018, Mr Helmy allegedly asked for money. "In order for me to give you this work, I would expect some type of payment," Mr Helmy allegedly said. Counsel Assisting, Rob Rob Ranken SC, asked Mr Spilsted whether he understood the gravity of that request. "Did you appreciate that what he was proposing was improper?" Mr Ranken asked. Adam Spilsted said he later told his wife, Mechelina Van Der Ende-Plakke, who is a director of Direct Traffic Pty Ltd, that Mr Helmy had asked for money. "She didn't want to give him any money whatsoever," he told the hearing. According to Mr Spilsted, Mr Helmy threatened to stop helping him win contracts unless he got paid. "So, what I did was went behind my wife's back," he told the commission. Mr Spilsted said he initially paid Mr Helmy using gift cards, but was soon told "the gift cards aren't cutting it". He later made several large cash withdrawals and handed them to Mr Helmy both in his car and "under the table" at an Egyptian restaurant in Merrylands. However, as the relationship continued and more contracts were awarded to the business, Mr Spilsted said the transport official wanted more money. "Every time that I'd see him, he'd ask for money all the time," he said. Mr Spilsted told the hearing that Mr Helmy ultimately asked him to pay about $600,000. He said that when his wife found out about that demand, she threatened to "dob" Mr Helmy in to TfNSW. Mr Spilsted said he warned her against going to authorities, saying they would both get into a "lot of trouble" because "we'd already paid him". The hearing was then played a phone conversation allegedly between Ms Van Der Ende-Plakke and Mr Helmy, recorded by Mr Spilsted. In the recording, she told Mr Helmy she was "shocked". "If we would go ahead with this [and] it would ever come out, it would not be good," she said. She told Mr Helmy she only wanted her company to win contracts based on merit. The man — allegedly Mr Helmy — responded by trying to reassure her. "I don't see it as badly as you're seeing it," he said. However, he later conceded "it is not 100 per cent legal". The hearing continues.
News.com.au
21-07-2025
- News.com.au
Man hospitalised after masked men storm home in Merrylands, Sydney
A group of masked men have stormed a home in Sydney's west overnight, assaulting a man and leaving him in hospital. Police were told a group of men wearing face coverings forced entry to a home on Abbott St in Merrylands at about 1.45am on Tuesday. The group assaulted a man in his 40s who was inside the house at the time before fleeing the scene. The man was treated by paramedics for facial injuries before being transported to hospital for treatment. No other injuries were reported. Shortly after the home invasion, police were called to Elizabeth St in Granville after reports a car was on fire. The fire was extinguished by Fire and Rescue NSW, but the car was destroyed. Police have established a crime scene at both locations and are working to determine whether the two incidents were linked. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Family of Australia's missing '$11.5MILLION man' Ibrahim Helmy - who disappeared 'with taxpayer cash' after putting the bins out - drop a bombshell about his whereabouts... and the bizarre thing they're most concerned about
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. 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. 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. 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.'
ABC News
02-07-2025
- ABC News
Teenagers charged over shootings in Merrylands and Guildford West
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with two shootings in Sydney's west, including one where 28 rounds were fired into a house, with a bullet just missing a child's head. Detectives alleged the teenage gunman was responsible for both incidents, which targeted homes linked to organised criminal networks. In March, at least 28 rounds were fired from a semi-automatic rifle into a house on Crossland Street in Merrylands during a suspected drive-by. A woman and four young children — aged between six months and five years old — were inside the house at the time, with police saying one bullet missed the older child's head by approximately 20 centimetres. No-one was injured in the shooting. Police believed the home was wrongly targeted after a threatening note, allegedly intended for the previous occupants with organised crime links, was left at the scene. Soon after the shooting, a stolen, burnt-out car was found at Chiswick Road in nearby South Granville. In April, another shooting took place at a granny flat on Faulds Road in Guildford West, where police alleged 15 shots were fired from a handgun. A 26-year-old woman inside the flat was uninjured, and police said she was targeted due to her alleged relationship with an organised crime figure. A stolen car was later found burnt in Villawood a short time later. Both shooting incidents were referred to Taskforce Falcon which is a police unit looking into a spate of recent underworld shootings and acts of violence. Following investigations, both shootings were linked to a 15-year-old boy who was arrested on Wednesday morning in Condell Park in Sydney's south-west. A second 15-year-old was later arrested at Penrith Police Station in connection with the Merrylands attack. They both face multiple charges including stealing a car, firing a firearm at a home, and damaging property by fire. Both have been refused bail and are set to face a children's court on Wednesday. Commander of Taskforce Falcon, Detective Superintendent Jason Box warned young people engaged with organised criminals to come forward before it is too late. "The outcome for you committing these serious acts of violence will be losing your freedom, your future, and potentially your life."
ABC News
18-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Vine-covered car parks helping to cool Western Sydney's urban heat islands
A new approach to providing shade at notoriously hot car parks has been shown to slash surface temperatures by up to half on summer days in Western Sydney. Surface temperatures at a busy car park in Merrylands are being reduced by as much as 35 degrees Celsius by vine-covered trellises which were installed and planted two years ago. On the hottest days, surface temperatures were shown to drop from 70C to 35C when in shade. Results from a study by Western Sydney University (WSU) and Cumberland City Council also show a reduction in air temperatures by up to 2.5C under the shading vines. The trellises are part of what the study described as Australia's first cool car park. Fast-growing vines grow over the top of metal supporting structures and then spread over a stainless steel mesh roof. Cumberland Mayor Ola Hamed said the project was promising for the area where temperatures in summer heatwaves have reached 45C. "Merrylands and Granville top some of those suburbs as well in terms of urban heat," Ms Hamed said. Ms Hamed said the shading structures at council-run car park Holroyd Gardens did not reduce car parking spaces. The initiative was funded by a grant from the NSW government to foster green infrastructure. WSU's Professor Sebastian Pfautsch, who has been studying the vine-covered trellises' impact for the past three years, said the vines were expected to grow completely over the metal wire mesh in two years. "We demonstrate with our solution that you can do it in a way so that you don't even lose valuable car parking space." Professor Pfautsch said the trellises were made of a wire mesh that birds could not rest on, so residents did not find their cars defecated on, and used vines that did not grow fruit that could drop on parked vehicles. Professor Pfautsch said more than 6 square kilometres of Western Sydney were dark-surfaced car parks, and only 1 per cent of that was effectively shaded. Cumberland council's area includes 1 square kilometre of uncovered car park. He said these car parks could have surface temperatures greater than 70C on a hot day. "It's always those unshaded car parks that come out as micro heat islands," Professor Pfautsch said. A WSU report presenting the findings from the car park shades said the issue was pointed in Sydney's west where there was a greater dependence on cars because of a lack of public transport alternatives. Urban heat islands are particularly harsh in Western Sydney where temperatures can reach above 40 degrees during summer heatwaves. Extreme heat has killed 300 people and hospitalised more than 7,000 across the country over the past decade, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Professor Pfautsch said Western Sydney also experienced hotter temperatures in summer due to the geographical bowl that traps heat in, and increased development replacing green environments. "That bowl means once you have hot air in it, it's very difficult to blow it out," Professor Pfautsch said. Another cool car park structure has been set up at a commuter car park in Wentworthville, also in the Cumberland council area. Ms Hamed hoped more of them could be set up at car parks in the area, including at public and privately owned car parks. "We're looking at other places around the LGA where we can replicate this as well," she said.
