After pleading bail over “mental health issues” only a few days ago, George Alex will walk free from prison after being slapped with a $2 million bail charge.

The controversial building industry figure was arrested last month over a $17 million tax fraud syndicate. Alex was arrested in Queensland and extradited to Sydney on conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth and dealing with proceeds of crime charges.

Read More: George Alex pleads bail for mental health treatment, court hears

The 49-year-old smiled as he was granted $2 million bail at Central Local Court on Friday and his solicitor said Alex would leave jail “in the coming days”.

“After spending more than two weeks in custody, Mr Alex is looking forward to his release and looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name,” Abbas Soukie told The Daily Telegraph.

“He is entitled to the presumption of innocence.”

Magistrate Margaret Quinn imposed a raft of strict bail conditions on Alex including effective house arrest, which she said would mitigate any flight risk he posed.

Prosecutor Raelene Sharp said Alex may interfere with witnesses if released, noting that in 2015 he was convicted of sending death threats to his former lover Anna Lee. But Alex’s lawyer stressed that he had obeyed those court orders, and also fronted court when summoned to appear before the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption that same year.

Read More: ‘The George Alex 12’ reportedly blindsided as police seized assets worth millions

“He was never charged with anything as a result of that royal commission,” Ms Quinn said.

Mr Alex was alleged to be the leader of the syndicate that used labour hire and payroll companies to defraud the ATO. Millions of dollars were then allegedly transferred to Australian accounts controlled by other accused syndicate members.

Defence barrister Craig Smith SC said in court earlier this week that Alex suffers from physical and mental health conditions and at one point wasn’t getting his medication behind bars.

“He still hasn’t seen a psychiatrist,” Mr Smith said.

Ms Quinn ordered Alex to report twice daily to Marrickville police station and otherwise not leave his aunt’s Earlwood home, while also banning him from leaving NSW.

“And his mother says she’s prepared to supervise him,” the magistrate said.

“If he is foolish enough to talk to (his co-accused) he should be aware that his bail will be revoked.”

St Basil’s Aged Care Home in Fawkner will reportedly be facing a class action lawsuit, with claims that there will be a legal push from devastated families against St Basil’s and Epping Gardens.

Melbourne businessman Jack Karikas confirmed to The Age he would be part of an anticipated class action against St Basil’s, where his 85-year-old mother-in-law had become infected.

Read More: ‘My mother was dehydrated and non-verbal’ – St Basil’s residents’ families furious for lack of communication during crisis
Read More: State coroner to investigate deaths at St Basil’s Fawkner

Mr Karikas said he and several other families had engaged lawyers to pursue St Basil’s, which is also now part of an investigation by the Victorian Coroner and police into whether some deaths could have been avoided.

“Let’s be very clear – the litigation is not about getting compensation. It’s about finding out how we got from one case on July 9 to where we are now – more than 130 cases – and why it took six days for the federal government to act,” Mr Karikas said. The number of cases connected to St Basil’s is 160.

“And what happened to the tests? We were told they were tested every second day, but now we’re finding out the tests were never sent off. They had residents mixed up and they didn’t know who was positive and who was negative.”

The legal actions would allege that the facilities breached the duty of care they owed their residents. Mr Karikas said civil action against St Basil’s, which is owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, was the only way of establishing what went wrong.

Read More: Federal Government wasn’t notified of St Basil’s Fawkner coronavirus outbreak for nearly a week

“We have bits and pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but there’s still a lot of pieces missing,” he said.

St Basil’s staff took back control of the embattled facility on Thursday but told The Age it would again withdraw its employees because of concerns about poor record keeping.

The chairman of St Basil’s, Konstantin Kontis, said files were allegedly missing and that an initial examination of others indicated the care of residents wasn’t properly documented during the fortnight the federal government’s contracted agencies managed the centre.

Mr Kontis said he had reported missing drugs of addiction, including opiates, to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

“The books are incomplete and we think there are drugs missing,” Mr Kontis said. “We feel the records are inadequate and do not indicate that these people received proper treatment between July 22 and when they were sent to hospital.”

A spokesman for Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said he had ordered an investigation into St Basil’s concerns.

“The minister has not received any such reports and has asked the department and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner to investigate this as a matter of urgency and to refer on to the relevant authorities,” the spokesman said.

Victoria records 450 new cases and 11 deaths

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Friday that Victoria recorded 450 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths.

“One female in her 50s, two males in their 70s, three males and three females in their 80s and two females in their 90s,” Mr Andrews said.

Seven of the 11 deaths are linked to aged care. There are now 7637 active cases, 1548 of those connected to aged care.

Police have issued 196 fines in the last 24 hours for breaching Covid restrictions – 51 of those were for not wearing a mask and 43 people were fined for breaching curfew.

A competitive dirt bike rider was left shocked after he was pulled over for doing a burnout in his Subaru, directly in front of a marked police car.

Ryan Findanis, 22, was charged with reckless driving after alarmed pedestrians saw him blazing through a 10km/h shared zone on Eton St, Sutherland in his Subaru BRZ, the St George Shire Standard reports.

The police, who were passing through a busy suburban shopping strip, were “directly behind” the accused as he did a burnout.

“Police asked the accused why (he thought) he was stopped and asked a number of questions,” police facts stated.

“The accused replied ‘you’re going to arrest me for a burnout?’”

Court documents state it was raining on January 18 when Findanis started driving erratically through the main street beside the Sutherland Shire Council chambers.

“Police were travelling directly behind the accused in a fully marked police car,” police facts stated.

“Police observed the accused’s vehicle to harshly accelerate – the accused’s vehicle immediately lost traction and aggressively fishtailed for approximately 20m.”

Officers say Findanis’ vehicle continued to swerve and fishtail from side to side for 20m, narrowly missing parked cars and pedestrians in the shared zone before they pulled him over.

Findanis pleaded guilty and was convicted, fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months at Sutherland Local Court on Thursday.

“Police are of the strong opinion that the accused’s driving behaviour was dangerous,” police facts stated.

“Police at the same time were flagged down by pedestrians so they could stop the dangerous behaviour of the accused.”

The court heard Findanis was on bail at the time on a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm related to an alleged incident involving another man in Helensburgh in December 2019. He remains before Wollongong Local Court on that charge.

Findanis is a competitive motocross rider who frequently competes in the East Coast MX Series, the MX Nationals and the Dirt Action Amcross series.

Sourced By: St George Shire Standard