By Brendan Rees
Embattled former Casey mayor Sam Aziz has labelled the State Government’s move to sack Casey Council as “travesty of justice for a council that has delivered so much for its residents“.
Speaking to Star News exclusively from Cairo, Egypt, Cr Aziz, who is at the centre of an anti-corruption commission inquiry, also scorned claims he was in hiding, saying he’s “dying to get back home”.
He said “everything had been put on hold” due to his health and hoped to defend the “absurd allegations” made against him.
“If I could lose my right arm and come back tomorrow I would,” he said.
He took aim at the State Government, which introduced a bill to dismiss Casey Council on Tuesday 18 February, saying: “What is the point of a process if you’re going to pre-empt the outcome before it is even known? What? Based on a few people giving uncorroborated evidence; based on silly surveillance video footage of a councillor meeting with essentially a constituent”.
Cr Aziz, who is alleged to have pocketed $900,000 from a developer and deliver favourable property decisions, hit back at the public outcry, saying people had been “harsh” and “violently unfair” without the opportunity to defend himself.
“I haven’t been able to keep up with all the crap that is coming out of the media,” he said.
“I’ve been convicted even before I’ve been put on trial; even before I’ve been able to give evidence.
“My confidence in the journalism profession is pretty much the lowest it’s been all my life because of all the crap reporting that’s happening,” he said.
Cr Aziz admitted investing money with developer John Woodman but blamed it on the stress caused by the break-up of his first marriage.
“When I was going through a very, very traumatic and very ugly marriage break-up I made a silly mistake of withdrawing money in cash and investing it with the Woodman company,” he said.
When asked when he expected to return to Melbourne Cr Aziz replied: “I honestly don’t know. I hope it’s sooner rather than later. I’m not joking, I’m not kidding you – I want to come home ASAP”.
Cr Aziz, who was granted extended paid leave earlier this month with the Casey mayor Susan Serey saying council had no choice but to approve his request based on medical grounds – despite it seeming “completely unacceptable to ratepayers” given the allegations made against him.
He said didn’t blame Cr Serey but believed she had “been under stress” and the “job has been a lot bigger than her from day one”.
“She’s probably found the pressures of the role too much and she’s come out swinging at other people”.
In response to the public criticism he said: “For all the cruel b——s out there that are questioning my health I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. My doctors more than speak for themselves,” he said.
He said any claims of alleged corruption heard during the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) inquiry had not been “proven beyond reasonable doubt”.
“I’m trying to come back. I have actually been prevented from travelling”.
According to Cr Aziz, he had booked a ticket on the 19 November to fly home but was refused permission to board the plane due to a heart condition.
“I’m getting ongoing treatment but it’s not something that can be magically fixed overnight,” he said. “I don’t have a choice being here and it’s sending me broke very slowly.
“In Australia I have private health insurance … here I have to pay a bloody fortune”.
He said he was supplementing his income through teaching but this had been “very sporadic because of my health”.
“Sometimes when I get really, really sick it’s very, very hard to maintain any sort of regular teaching commitment”.
He also said he had an eye condition as a result of diabetes – which required monthly injections but the medication was not available in Cairo.
“If I don’t get those injections I’ll eventually go blind and in under 12 months.”
He described being in Cairo as “scant” and the main reason “I’m dying to get back home – Melbourne is everything to me”.
Cr Aziz also hit back at claims he “skipped” the country to avoid the public hearings.“People have taken advantage of my absence; called it a form of escape which it wasn’t and still isn’t.
“The allegation that I sold my house to skip the country is again total b——t.
“I sold my house for personal reasons because I could no longer keep up the mortgage repayments on a property that I was only using a couple of times a month to see my children,” he said.
“I told IBAC I was going to do that. I was upfront and open. I fully cooperated with their investigations”.
Cr Aziz felt for his family back home who had been victimised under the public eye.
“I feel for my poor wife, my beautiful daughters, who have been stalked by the media in their own home. I feel for my little boys who are at school and have probably been bullied like there’s no tomorrow,” he said.
He said his wife travelled to see him “because I was that unwell” but couldn’t stay with him for extended periods of time.
“I was experiencing black outs and all sorts of horrible things”.
