After Mokbel's disappearance the defence counsel feared he was in danger because of an unrelated matter.Brazil anyone? Kinda worked for ol' Ronnie Biggs...
However, it can now be revealed that Australian Federal Police told the court all the evidence points to Mokbel having voluntarily absconded.
Mokbel to be sentenced in absentia. 28/03/2006. ABC News Online
I suspect he's dead
ReplyDeleteaz
Lebanon.
ReplyDeleteok I take back my previous assertion. After doing a bit of reading it has come to my attention that Tony has connections with people in the showbiz industry, and they've agreed to hide him in return for unspecified amounts of free cocaine. I declare that he's hiding under Naomi's Today Tonight desk
ReplyDeleteaz
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=93408 - he just well could be under naomi's desk after her old flame!
ReplyDeleteMeet the Mokbels
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theage.com.au/news/national/meet-the-mokbels-at-home-in-lebanon/2006/04/21/1145344281209.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
LOCALS say that Tony Mokbel has only returned once as an adult to his ancestral village in north Lebanon, but since the convicted drug syndicate boss vanished last month, tiny Achache has been plagued by investigators.
"It wouldn't be so bad if everybody just came here to his grandfather's house with their questions," said Wajih Mokbel, 33, Tony's first cousin, who lives in the house in which Tony's late father, Sajih, grew up.
"But the Interpol document has gone to all the security services and been stuck on their walls — anti-drugs unit, general security, all of them — and they all come around separately asking questions.
"They start by talking about something else, like bird flu, but we know where it's going. They end up asking about Tony ... We say that our house is open 24 hours a day, but please stop going around the village."
"They come to everybody who's got the same name," complained Nazir Mokbel, 56, Tony's uncle. "I've got a 12-year-old son who is also called Antonios Mokbel and they knocked on my door to ask about him."
There are plenty of doors to knock on: according to village mukhtar (or mayor) Georges Mokbel — a distant cousin — at least a quarter of Achache's 2000 registered inhabitants are called Mokbel. And Anthony is the most common Christian name in the Middle East.
"He came around 12 or 13 years ago to the village," recalls the mayor, who as a child was in the boy scouts with Tony's older brothers Kabalan and Horty.
"He came to see his grand father's house and visit his uncles and that was the last we saw of him. A lot of expatriates come back here like that,
especially in summer."
Relatives said that among the first visitors to the village following Tony Mokbel's disappearance were a group of inquisitive foreigners who said they were journalists; in the absence of any actual coverage from the visit,
they now believe that these were Australian investigators.
After them came a swarm of Lebanese security agents. "We are being badgered because of a guy we don't know, who hasn't visited this village except once 12 years ago," said Wajih.
"This guy was born over in Kuwait and he moved to Australia after that. If he has a problem it's his problem, not his relatives' problem. It would be fine if he came here and had a say in things, but he didn't. Even when the mukhtar went to Australia, he didn't meet him or make a fuss of him."
The ties between Achache and Australia are intimate: Georges Mokbel himself has a daughter and five brothers living in Melbourne and Sydney. He estimates that there are now 450 people from the village living in Australia, most of them in and around Carlton. He says he has phone numbers for 90 per cent of them.
"One of the reasons I went to Australia was to encourage the Lebanese there to come back and visit the village," he said.
"A lot of the young people were scared to come because here we have a year of military conscription. I wanted to assure them that if they are born in Australia they don't have to do it.
"The first lot who went to Australia used to work in factories, like Ford or Dunlop. Now most of them are in the hospitality business - restaurants and so on."
Tonys' father, whom he remembers as an extremely generous man, worked in Kuwait for 15 years before moving to Australia. "He had a bit of money when he went to Australia. He could have stayed here easily, but he wanted to make a better life over there," he said.
"When I went to Australia people would say that this property belongs to Antonios, and that property belongs to Antonios. But I don't think our people there are extremely rich.
"There were other people who went to Australia and came back a lot. Tony didn't do that. Other people built big houses here and had investments, but Tony has nothing."
Wajih Mokbel had himself recently returned from a three-month visit to Australia, where he says he only saw his cousin Tony a few times.
"His mother and elder brother are closer to this village. I was staying at our uncle's house and you feel that the uncles and brothers had this Lebanese way of life, but Tony didn't."
Unlike many wealthy expatriate Lebanese, locals say, Tony Mokbel does not own property in his ancestral village. Nor, they said, were they aware of rumours that their fugitive relative has investments in Beirut.
"If he has all this money, wouldn't he help his family?" asked Wajih. "I know he is generous, but I don't think he is as rich as people say."
Mokbel wasnt allowed to stay in Lebanon, he was sent to Greece.
DeleteMokbels boss, Abraham Khoury is also Malkouns boss, Malkoun and comancheros are Khoury's personal attack dogs, he is the biggest, safest gangster in Oz and none knows who he is. He is surrounded by a team of special forces ex soldiers from the civil war; they are virtually untouchable and none will ever touch them in Australia. Khoury is also Gatto's boss. Gatto, Khoury and Paul Dale are all business partners in the game. They are all rats and killers.
They are raising a war chest in Australia to take over areas of Lebanon and are backed by the Kremlin. Comanchero's and Russian Night Wolves are very very close allies.
Khoury sits in the Mahogany room of Crown gambling tens of millions a day talking about who is getting knocked next int he Melbourne Underworld, his special forces soldiers who work with high level police make sure it happens. They have been trying to kill Toby Mitchell for years & set him up for 25-life by calling the Netherlands, thats what they do to anyone they need to fuck with. They also did the same job with Michael Ibrahim in Dubai. They are allied with Mossad in the Middle East too and have a very extensive gun running business with the Israeli's.
They also tried to build a new casino in Geelong they need to launder so much cash. They own the majority of a casino in the Middle East too.
The Special Operations Group of Vic Police do favors for them, rata-tat-tat. They can kill and set up anyone they want and they do.
John Khoury and Mick Gatto tried to go to Beirut for 60min to negotiate a deal but a bullet was waiting for the so they didnt go. In the end, their involvement forced channel 9 to pay $500,000-$1mil to hezbollah to get their reporter out.
They may be untouchable in Australia, they may own Victoria Police and all the jails, but abroad, there is a team of special forces waiting for them, ready at any time who are sick to death of their ego gangster bullshit. They are not welcome in the Middle East.
In fact the King of Saudi Arabia even kidnapped the princes associated with them, extorted billions from the princes, and gave them a few torture sessions for the games they are playing.
Those motherfuckers are in deeep, deep shit.