No wonder the average Australian thinks the law system in this country is a bit of a joke ! Well over a year ago ICAC referred the investigation into Eddie Obeid's conduct in acquiring a coal mining license for a farm and turning that into a profit of millions of dollars over to the Crime Commission for action to freeze Obeid's assets and begin the asset seizure process.
The Crime Commission is still pondering the matter and trying to sort out just what evidence would be admissible in court. Obeid remains a free man - in complete control of his assets and the Crime Commission warns that it may be " too late " to seize them.
It is known that OBeid ran a labyrinthine mix of family trusts and inter connected companies that hid the true ownership of his money and this lack of action may have allowed him to squirrel money away - far out of reach of even the best accountants employed by our legal services.
To the average person, it looks like Eddie Obeid is getting away with his criminality -scott free. He is yet to wear handcuffs and so far no charges have been laid.
The day of reckoning has arrived for Craig Thomson and he has been found guilty and awaits sentence. The public will remember the weasel words of his political party when they defended him and stoutly proclaimed his innocence in the months that his vote was essential to keep them in office. Now the time of his usefulness has passed they have no further comment - and his old union is baying for blood and threatening to sell him up to recover lost money.
Perhaps the greatest travesty is the speed with which the Australian Federal Police moved to try and seize the proceeds of a news story that Schapele Corby is reputed to have arranged with a television network. Schapele has been free on parole for a matter of days and already a bevy of armed cops have descended on the Channel Seven studios with search warrants. The tax man is expressing indignation that a " convicted criminal " may gain a reward - and vigorously implementing the " proceeds of crime " legislation to size the money.
Perhaps there is more involved in this raid than meets the eye. The Federal police rifled through the files and personal papers of company executives and took away the hard drives of computers. It is quite possible that pending news stories being put together by investigative journalists may now be in police hands and there is every chance that the names of whistle blowers are now known - perhaps to the very subjects of the news stories involved.
It seems that the law moves with varying speeds - depending on who is involved and what clout they can bring to gain protection. Politicians seem to be a class of their own. Investigations proceed with agonising attention to detail and the most liberal interpretation of the law - and that is something that is missing when the case involves one of the " common herd " of other mere mortals !
Then handcuffs are swiftly applied - and the accused sees the inside of a police cell !
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