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An alleged fraudster is on the run, having not returned to her trial in a Brisbane court since the day after her family was involved in a scuffle with security outside the building.
Fatima I’lache, 65, was two weeks into a trial in the Brisbane District Court, accused of fraudulently receiving more than $240,000 in welfare payments, when she stopped coming to court.
Between 2012 and 2019, she allegedly owned and rented out her house without telling the government.
I’lache, who first moved to Australia in the 1970s as a teenager from Lebanon, was representing herself in the trial with the help of her daughter, Malak O’Mari.
O’Mari was allowed to sit at the bar with her, under an arrangement known as a “McKenzie friend”. Throughout the trial, O’Mari whispered advice in her mother’s ear and seemed to be driving her legal strategy.
At the end of the last day that I’lache appeared in court, May 25, O’Mari was involved in an incident outside the courthouse in which she was tackled by court security.
During the incident, her sister, Sarah Alachi, circled the group, yelling that O’Mari had not touched anyone.
O’Mari was eventually arrested and charged with assault, resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer or someone in aid of an officer. Her initial bail requirements prohibited her from attending the courthouse, where she had been assisting her mother.
Over the following days, I’lache sought to be excused from attending court by sending in two medical certificates, which Justice Terry Gardiner ruled were insufficient after speaking to one of the doctors.
I’lache was told via email to attend the court various times over the next week, with a warrant for her arrest issued on May 28. Police said she could not be found at her listed bail address.
With police still unable to find I’lache, the jury was dismissed on June 4.
I’lache is accused of three charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The court was shown examples of tenancy agreements for a house in the east Brisbane suburb of Belmont, which I’lache said she was exempt from declaring because it was her primary residence.
In total, it was alleged that she had received $245,288.85 that she was not entitled to – in Newstart, disability pension and carer’s payments – over a seven-year period.
Much of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution was allegedly found during a 2018 raid by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and federal police on a house in Pimpama, on the northern Gold Coast.
During the raid, a plastic box of documents was found in the dining room, and a cooler bag of documents was found in the living room.
During her cross-examination of DFAT officer Elise James, I’lache asked whether any of her clothes or toiletries were in the house, and whether investigators had proof that she was living in the home, other than seeing her leave.
James said she was unsure what personal items were in the house, but they were not part of the warrant.
James said close to $10,000 in cash was also found at the property, but was not taken.
I’lache was not in the home at the time of the raid, but her sons and the man she said was her ex-husband were.
I’lache also questioned James about an Australian passport in the name of Emma Emery, to which she had changed her name through the Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
James said that while the document was genuine, it had been obtained fraudulently because she already had an Australian passport.
While I’lache had a New Zealand passport with her date of birth listed as September 19, 1961, her previous Australian passport had her birthday as September 9, 1961, the court heard.
“You created a second identity, which is why I would say it is a fraudulent identity,” James said.
I’lache arrived in Australia with the name Fatmah Omari but used several other names, including Suzana Isaac and Fatima Alachi, and had not declared that she previously held Australian citizenship when she came from New Zealand, James told the court.
There are no listed dates for I’lache’s matter to return to court.
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