As police hunt for Jean Nassif, accused of fraud and believed to have fled the country, the Sydney property developer and his firm Toplace have had their licences suspended.
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NSW Police issued an arrest warrant for Nassif in June, alleging he obtained a $150 million loan from Westpac through fraudulent pre-sale documents of an apartment complex in Castle Hill.
The 55-year-old left the country on December 22 with police seeking the public's assistance on his whereabouts after a two-year fraud investigation.
Before flying out from Australia, Nassif applied to review a decision by the Commissioner for Fair Trading on December 2 suspending his licence for 10 years and permanently banning Toplace from engaging in construction work.
Fair Trading found both had engaged in improper conduct.
On January 5 this year, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Theresa Simon put a stay on the commissioner's decision.
Ms Simon found removing the licences at that point could jeopardise remediation works being done on the firm's apartments and expose them to the risk of breach of contract, including impacting the Westpac loan.
On Thursday, the tribunal member reversed this decision, meaning that Nassif and Toplace will lose their licences immediately.
She found that with a warrant out for Nassif's arrest and no evidence that he intended to return to Australia, Westpac's loan facility would be at risk anyway.
Toplace also had a nominated supervisor in place, Charbel Barakat, who was committed to conducting any rectification works, she said.
Lawyers for Nassif and Toplace still oppose the decision to strip them of their licences.
A final hearing will be heard at NCAT on October 23.
The developer is the father of Sydney lawyer Ashlyn Nassif, who has been accused of securing the $150 million Westpac loan with a falsified property pre-sale contract in 2021.
She has been charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and publishing false misleading material to obtain advantage.
Ashlyn Nassif handed herself in earlier in 2023 after police simultaneously raided four properties, including her father's multimillion-dollar Chiswick mansion and his Concord-based development firm.
Earlier this year, Nassif was called to appear before a NSW parliamentary inquiry into allegations of impropriety at Hills Shire Council, but declined to give evidence via a video link from Lebanon for legal reasons.
Australian Associated Press
