Eddie Obeid ordered to pay back $600K pension

Disgraced former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid has been ordered to pay back close to $1 million in legal fees and his taxpayer-funded pension after he lost his final bid to get out of jail.

Nine News reports that Obeid will be forced to repay his pension, which amounts to about $660,000, as well as about $280,000 in taxpayer-funded legal assistance.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman confirmed the government will seek to obtain the funds from Obeid, and said NSW taxpayers “deserve their money back”.

“I have instructed the Office of General Counsel and the Department of Justice to commence cost recovery for the taxpayer-funded legal assistance provided to Edward Moses Obeid,” he said in a statement.

“NSW taxpayers deserve their money back and the NSW Government is taking action to ensure this occurs.”

Obeid has collected $120,000 a year in pension funds since he quit politics in 2011.

The Lebanon-born former MP was found guilty of misconduct in public office in 2016 for lobbying a senior bureaucrat over his family’s secret business interests at Circular Quay. He was sentenced to five years behind bars, but will be eligible for parole in 2019.

The government introduced new laws last May to prevent politicians convicted of crimes from cashing in on their generous pension.

Previously, a politician convicted of a crime committed during their time in office would keep their pension if the person had resigned before being charged.

At the time, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the changes were a reminder for politicians to serve the people, not themselves.

“Unless these changes are made, politicians convicted of serious criminal offences will be able to live off their taxpayer-funded pension entitlement and that’s just not fair,” Premier Berejiklian said.

“The days of Obeid, Macdonald and their cronies benefiting at the expense of the people of NSW are over.”

Obeid had remained optimistic throughout his 2016, and boasted that he didn’t believe an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry into his actions would find any wrongdoing.

The case was brought against Obeid after ICAC found corrupt conduct in his dealings. Obeid was so confident in his case that he pleaded not guilty. The court, however, didn’t agree with his defence team’s argument, and sided with The Crown, who argued Obeid had used his position of power to “dupe” State Maritime Authority, Steve Dunn, to hand over Circular Quay leases.

Do you think it’s fair Obeid has to pay back his pension? Do you think politicians’ pension allowance is fair, or too much?