Former NSW Labor politician Eddie Obeid and his family have been hit by more bad luck, with police investigating a suspicious fire at their Bellevue function centre in Restwell Street, Bankstown, early Monday morning.
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The building which houses the centre is owned by a company Redpoc, whose directors are Mr Obeid's longtime friend and former business partner Wally Wehbe and Mr Obeid's son, Paul Obeid.
About 1.40am Monday an unknown male forced entry to the building through a rear door and a fire started in the building shortly afterwards. It was extinguished by the sprinkler system by the time emergency services arrived but there has been damage to the foyer of the centre, which was recently renovated.
NSW Police said the fire is being treated as suspicious and Fire & Rescue NSW and police from Bankstown Local Area Command have established a crime scene.
A man who police believe may be able to assist with inquiries is described only as "wearing a dark hooded jumper and dark pants". Investigators have urged anyone who witnessed suspicious activity in the area overnight to come forward.
Mr Obeid senior told the Herald he was not involved with the business. "I have no knowledge of it. I am not involved," before referring any queries to the function centre.
A man at The Bellevue centre, who identified himself as the manager, Eli, said there had been "no damage," before hanging up.
This is the second incident in The Bellevue. In 1993, not long after Mr Obeid and Mr Wehbe had purchased the mini shopping centre and opened The Bellevue, one of the shopping centre tenants, a tobacconist, noticed petrol dripping through the ceiling and called the police.
Mr Obeid later claimed that the attempted petrol bombing was due to rivalry over a Lebanese beauty contest that had been held at The Bellevue earlier in the week. Mr Obeid, who had become a Labor member of the NSW Upper House in 1991, later divested all his shareholdings and directorships to his sons after several embarrassing incidents in which it was revealed he had not disclosed all his interests on his pecuniary interest register.
Redpoc recently purchased another property around the corner for $1.5 million, which borders the lane behind the function centre. The building was the former home of the El Telegraph, which was owned by the Obeid family for many years.
In 2010 a person drove a 4WD through the Thai restaurant downstairs, and set fire to the building, causing extensive damage to the newspaper offices, which were forced to move. Mr Obeid maintained he had sold out of El Telegraph some years ago, though his son Paul remained a director of the company that owns the business name, Linkban, until late last year, when it was deregistered.
El Telegraph has also had mixed fortunes. In July 1983, fire destroyed the newspaper's premises in Garners Avenue, Marrickville. The fire had been deliberately lit and Mr Obeid blamed an Islamic group who were angered by his paper's editorial line.
Bad luck followed to the newspaper's new premises in Marrickville Road where in 1992 the building caught fire after El Telegraph's manager emptied the ashtray into a wastepaper basket before ducking out for lunch.
Fires have also struck the Obeids domestically. Neighbours reported the Obeids' Concord house was twice damaged by fire.
Then there was Offset Alpine. The printing plant was destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve 1993, but had been heavily insured and left its shareholders well compensated.
Obeid has said that in 1992, when Kerry Packer's Australian Consolidated Press was offloading assets, he was offered the firm's printing plant, Offset Alpine.
After mentioning the deal to his good friend, the then Federal Labor minister Graham Richardson, Richardson put him in touch with his stockbroker Rene Rivkin who funded the project. At the time of the fire, Paul Obeid was a director but the Obeids hadn't yet paid the $2 million option fee which would have secured them 25 per cent of Offset Alpine.
Obeid has previously told Fairfax Media. "If I had [invested] I would be the luckiest bloke alive." However, his friend Graham Richardson would later transfer $1 million from the proceeds of Offset Alpine from his Swiss bank account to an account in Lebanon which belonged to a good friend of the Obeids.
Richardson told the authors of He Who Must Be Obeid, that he could not recall the transaction and "If it did that, it was under the instructions of Rivkin."
