Corrupt former Labor minister Eddie Obeid and his son Moses have been charged over a $30 million coal deal, as authorities tighten the net around the one-time powerbroker and his family over a series of business deals.
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Obeid is already facing jail time after being convicted in June of misconduct in public office over his business dealings at Circular Quay.
Fairfax Media can now reveal the 72-year-old and his entrepreneurial middle son Moses, 47, were quietly charged last year over a coal deal at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley near Mudgee.
The identity of a third person charged over the same matter cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
The conspiracy charges relate to a lucrative coal tenement the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard was created "smack bang" on top of the Obeid family's rural property Cherrydale Park while Obeid was in office.
The charges against father and son follow an explosive 2012 ICAC inquiry, which revealed the Obeid family received a $30 million windfall from the coal deal.
The corruption uncovered in that inquiry and others involving former NSW Labor figures was famously described as "on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps".
The fact that Obeid had been charged over the Mount Penny coal deal was suppressed to ensure that Obeid senior suffered no prejudice in his recent criminal trial in the NSW Supreme Court over his business dealings at Circular Quay.
He was convicted on June 28 of misconduct in public office and the Crown is pushing for a jail sentence.
During Obeid's three-week trial the Supreme Court heard the then Upper House MP lobbied Steve Dunn, then-deputy chief executive of the state maritime authority, to benefit retail tenants at Circular Quay "under the cloak" of acting for arm's length constituents.
In fact, Obeid was acting in his private interests. The jury heard his family had a secret interest in two cafes on wharves four and five at Circular Quay and they were among a group of tenants seeking to have their leases renewed without competing in a public tender.
August is set to be a busy month for the former Labor powerbroker. On August 12 Justice Robert Beech-Jones will hear submissions about a possible jail term for Obeid over the Circular Quay cafes.
On August 29 Eddie and Moses Obeid will appear in the Downing Centre Local Court for a committal hearing over the conspiracy charges. It is slated to run for five days.
The first two weeks of August will be taken up by a civil case in which Obeid and three of his five sons – Moses, Paul and Eddie jnr – are suing former ICAC commissioner David Ipp, counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson, SC, and another seven ICAC officers for "misfeasance in public office".
The Obeids maintain they were unfairly targeted by the corruption watchdog and the family wants damages for their economic loss and for the "significant stress, mental anxiety and injury" they claim to have suffered.
Other legal matters on foot for the Obeid family include the ongoing stoush between the Australian Tax office and family matriarch Judy Obeid and eight of her nine children.
In addition, Moses and Paul are being pursued in court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for alleged bid rigging conduct in relation to two lucrative coal exploration licences. One of the licences was over the Mount Penny property.
The ACCC is seeking monetary penalties and costs as well as orders that the men be disqualified from managing companies for a set time.
